Prayer: The Under-used Vehicle to the Antidote
First, let me say….this Blog is not an indictment on anyone. It is not intended to send anyone on a guilt trip, nor for you to enter a paralyzing space of regret and it is not to cause anyone to get on a speeding train to the land of condemnation. We all struggle with inconsistencies in our prayer lives and there is always room for growth and improvement when it comes to activating the power-of-prayer in our lives!
Life, in general, comes with countless ailments, struggles, and problems in our homes, families and personal lives. We navigate through these issues on a regular basis to the best of our abilities and with the help of the Lord for some.
In recent months, and with ongoing persistence, while navigating “regular issues” we experienced the ushering in of a demanding set of blustering and damaging corona-related devasting health-storms. These storms have moved through households, communities, cities and across nations hammering some like a tsunami while leaving death, pain, grieve and loss of every kind in its wake. It has been overwhelming and unbearable for the masses and has brought a full-stop to life as we know it. The devastations have left people, some worse than others, in despair. The focus and direction of our way of life and living have changed and is still changing.
The search and re-search for an “antidote” are feverishly underway.
God speaks to us in His Word about the realities of life by warning saying, “…You will have suffering [tribulation and distress] in this world. Be courageous! [be confident, be undaunted] I have conquered the world” (John 16:33 CSB).
Hmm, so what do you do? And how do you access the antidote of safe-haven, peace, provision and protection in these out of control waters of life? How do you find this confidence, courage and conquering strength that God speaks of in the face of such disappointment? Where do you go? And how do you get there? What does it mean when we pray?
There are many types of prayers, ways to pray and reasons that we pray. Prayer can be private or public. We pray for ourselves and we pray for others (intercession). Sometimes we have to pray-about-praying. Sometimes we have to ask God, like Jesus’ disciples asked Him, asking “One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray…’” (Luke 11:1). In a later blog I will be teaching more on these.
It is true that sometimes when we pray it feels like we’re hitting a brick wall and that nothing is happening. Sometimes there is that sense of helplessness, even hopelessness because we are focused on how we are feeling and what is going on around us. But it is not for us to figure out what the prayer is doing. What God has asked for us to do is to simply pray the Word-based, faith-filled, effective, and fervent prayers that will bring about God-ordained results (James 5:16-18). God tells us to
Our focus in prayer, no matter how dark, is always to be on the One True, Living and All-Powerful God Who can intervene at a moment’s notice and does the unthinkable, the impossible! “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:20-21). We focus on His power, His Word, His will. We are to hold on and trust Him. We are to ensure that we are walking in alignment with His Word by the blood of Jesus Christ and the power of His Holy Spirit. It is to be in relationship with Him where you can truly call Him Father and when you go to your Father through Jesus Christ our Lord, He promises to hear and to answer prayer. The reassurance is in His Word in (John 14:14 CSB) where Jesus says, “If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”
Prayer is how you communicate with God. Prayer is your voice that goes into the ear of God and your prayer lives there as long the ear of God remains open. Prayer is that very important vehicle that takes us into the presence of God Who is our source and the answer for ALL of life’s ailments. He tells us to: “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28-30 CSB). It is how we pour out all of our hearts’ concerns to Him. God encourages us by saying to us in His Word, “Call to me and I will answer you…” (Jeremiah 33:3). He assures us that “…He rewards those who diligently [earnestly] seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).
God works through the prayers of His people. There is no expiration or retirement date on the prayers that you pray. Prayer is necessary if we want to see God move and if we want to fulfill God’s plan for our lives. God is saying to us even now, “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).
God’s response, and or His timing is often not what you would like to see or experience, but God operates from a position of His Sovereign prerogative. His Divine response comes out of His Divine wisdom and preordained plan for our lives. He is never late. His response is always what we need and it always to bring glory to God.
I don’t know about you, but I want the very core of who I am to always be reaching for God even when it looks like everything is falling down around me. I have heard it said that “when there doesn’t seem to be a way out, we must know that God can always find a way in!”
Heavenly Father, I ask You to make Your way into the minds, hearts, homes, families and communities Lord, where they may feel imprisoned and restricted. Lord, sometimes the journey of life is so overwhelming, and so dark that we cannot see our way clearly. God, please “enter in” where they may feel that they cannot come out. Be their Divine-escort, Lord. Thank You that You promise in Your Word that You are the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Thank You that You are the very Light in all dark places in the world and in the lives of Your people.
Father, so many are going through such tough times right now in their homes, their families, in their health, lost jobs, struggles on all sides and pressured in every way. Father, there is nothing that is impossible to You Lord. I pray for everyone reading and or listening to these words. Lord overtake them with Your love, comfort and peace. Lord be their Way, their Truth and Life. Their Light. God, I pray that You would flood them with your peace in the midst of any anxious situation. Give them rest in You. Heal their land God personally, physically, financially, emotionally. Whatever the ailment is God, I pray that they will come to know and experience you as their Divine – antidote.
Lord, I pray that You will take their faith and expand it such a way that the struggles of life cannot stamp it out but that it will be rooted and grounded in You. In Your Omnipresence, Lord visit them wherever they are and provide for them in a Supernatural way. Lord I ask this in the name of Your Son Jesus Christ and God I believe that You are touching and healing and restoring right now God. Thank you Father. In Jesus name, Amen!