What gives us the stamina to keep on praying and trusting God while we are waiting for the ways that God will answer our prayers? I recognize that in other areas of our lives, it is those things that we consider most essential that we will devote time and effort toward. For example, if you have lost something that you are eager to locate, you will put everything else aside to search for what is lost. When a prayer concern is first brought to our attention, we will often commit time and focus to that need for prayer. Sometimes, as the days go by, the prayer concern may begin to slip from our minds or to hold less of a sense of urgency. For those in need of our prayers, their circumstances remain keenly apparent and their awareness of their need for prayers and answers to prayers is intense. In our desire to be reliable and constant in our prayers, we can reflect on Scripture from Romans 12:12, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” This admonition from God’s Word is true to life. We can find joy when we are praying and placing our hope in God. Even while we are still waiting for the answers, hope that comes through our prayers lifts our spirits. As we are praying, we can even be given patience for the afflictions and hard things we endure. And in all of this, we are called to be faithful in prayer, to keep on praying. We are not simply to keep repeating the words of our prayers, we are be full of faith as we pray. Faithful prayers also indicates that we pray all the time and want to maintain relationship with God in the hard times and in the easier times of life. God intends that faithful prayer be the consistent pattern of our lives. We continue this weekly opportunity to engage in faithful prayers and you are invited to pray with us for our WEDNESDAY PRAYER TOGETHER tomorrow May 25th at 1 pm.
Thankful that we can look to our God to help us to be faithful in our prayers, Pastor Lola
Loving God, today we affirm that You are a God Who answers our prayers. We have seen evidence of this and we thank You. There are some prayers that we have been praying over and over and we are still waiting to see how You will answer these prayers. We want to be faithful in our prayers and to look to You with an attitude of trust and expectancy. Please remind us that You are a God of infinite capacity Who is able do far more than we could ever ask or imagine. We know that our prayers will take effect because of Who You are, our God of mercy and grace. Over these last 2 years we have prayed on many occasions about this pandemic and the widespread impact on our lives. The COVID virus continues to affect us and our families and communities. We hold the hope in our prayers that we will learn through this experience to live depending on You and looking to You to guide us when the path ahead is so unpredictable and uncertain. Our prayers for peace in The Ukraine continue. You are relentless God in Your love and care for every individual in The Ukraine and around our world. For those Who are living in the midst of war and the despair of war, we keep on praying for peace. We do not want to forget this need for peace because we know that You God have not forgotten. And then our God we turn in our thoughts to all those dealing with various health issues, some more pressing than others. These issues wear down both those who are ill and receiving treatment and their caregivers. We will continue to bring them to You by name and to ask for You to carry them through their dark valleys and assure them that You are with them always. Where You God are bringing comfort to those in grief as a result of our prayers, we thank You. We ask You to fill our hearts with compassion and to have us respond with sensitivity for those who will always remember loved ones whom they are missing on special occasions and every single day. We want to be faithful in prayer for those who wonder if they can trust You, for those who struggle to keep on believing that You do hear and will answer their prayers. Help us God to be honest about what we think and feel and to experience You welcoming us to come to You and to be reassured that our prayers have not gone unnoticed. Thank You God that we have not gone unnoticed. We want to know that exquisite gift of recognizing that we are deeply loved and cherished by You. We respond in our prayers now by declaring our love for You and asking that You will renew our commitment to You and to praying faithfully. In Jesus’ Name. AMEN.