It is deeply reassuring to know that God hears every prayer. Whether we are coming to God with a seemingly overwhelming situation of concern or bringing what might seem somewhat inconsequential to God, our loving God hears and responds to our prayers. Knowing that God hears the smallest prayer, can give us confidence to approach God with the much larger (need a mountain moved) kind of prayers. We can recall that Jesus explains in Matthew 6:8, …”your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” We might wonder, what then is the purpose of prayer if God already knows what we need? Our own awareness of our dependence on God and our decision to reach out to God in faith when we pray is an integral part of prayer. It is not that we are reminding God of what we need. We are reminding ourselves that we can trust God and we are activating the Divine process of God moving to answer our needs in response to our humble prayers. This past weekend, I had an experience of God answering my prayer. I was going out to collect some evergreen branches for our front porch Christmas arrangement. I knew that several of the spruce trees nearby were tall and the evergreen boughs unreachable. As I set out, I was praying for God to guide me to where I could get some branches that were accessible. When I went down the road to a former farm property that was being cleared, there were large trees that had some of their branches removed and I could easily gather some ideal greenery for my arrangement. I thanked God for such an immediate answer to my prayer. When we pause for our WEDNESDAY PRAYER TOGETHER tomorrow November 16th at 1 pm, God will already know what we need before we ask and God will welcome us into recognizing how much we need Him when we pray.
Thanking God that He knows us well and cares about our every need, Pastor Lola
Thank You God for Your loving care directed towards us. Sometimes we do not have a very clear understanding of what we need, but You do. Sometimes we might hesitate to bring something to You in our prayers because it seems less important by comparison to some of the larger issues around us. Our faith in You and Your love for us is strengthened when we recognize that You have such an accurate picture of our needs. Where we are hurting and don’t know how we need to be healed, we come to You. Where we are sad, and don’t know how to be consoled, we come to You. Where we are anxious and don’t know how to prepare for what may happen, we come to You. Where we are lonely, we come to You. Where we want to reach out to others and aren’t sure how, we come to you. Where we are unsure of what words to speak, we come to you. Where we have deep concerns for family and friends, we come to You. Where we have decisions to make and need Your wise guidance, we come to You. Where there are disappointments and regrets in our lives, we come to You. Where we hear discouraging news, we come to You. Where we look for purpose in our days, we come to You. Where our faith has grown cold, we come to You. Where we need to forgive and to be forgiven, we come to You. Where we are living in the past instead of now, we come to you. Where we find it hard to see hope, we come to You. Our God, in all the places of our lives where there are needs, we believe that You have answers. We want to continue to expect You to move in answer to our prayers. We long for our faith to be renewed in You and Your sovereign plans. When we cannot fathom how You will work things out, we want to be looking expectantly for that glimmer of light that signals You are causing a new day to dawn. God please guard us against the same old patterns that do not lead us closer to You. Instead, we pray for courage to step on to the path You provide that will see us trusting you and depending on You for every detail of living. Thank You God for this gift of life You have given us. Thank You for your care and attention to what we need before we even pray. We are asking that You will allow us to understand our needs as You do and to see evidence of all the ways that You consistently meet our needs and the needs of those for whom we pray. Thank You God that this opportunity to pray is an opportunity to know You more and to surrender everything to You. We choose to do this now. In Jesus’ Name. AMEN.