Prayer really matters. Prayer can change everything. I have always prayed, but I have not always prayed with any certainty or with any kind of expectation that my prayers would be answered. I used to be so jaded, so darkly cynical, a prayer could be answered right in front of me and I would not even recognize it, or if it was glaringly obvious, I would just roll my eyes and dismiss it as a total coincidence, a placebo, a trick of my imagination.
When you’re wounded it can be really hard to open up, to trust, to have faith, to accept what you observe at face value and to just receive it.
I began this journey of trying to take note of every prayer that is answered and to fully receive it, with this very sulky, passive/aggressive, utterance to God that amounted to, “if you actually loved me, you’d bring me some darn coffee.” I had zero expectations but the doorbell rang and I nearly fainted. This guy had made a coffee run for his friends and when he got back they had all bailed on him. He didn’t want to waste good coffee and something led him to the house down the street where I was working at. I nearly dropped the coffee I was so surprised. That man had no idea what I had just prayed, but he felt led to bring it over with such perfect timing.
Baby steps, man, baby steps. I was really convicted in that moment too, and I learned that, “if” you loved me was a deception, a lie embedded deep in my soul somewhere, like a little infected rose thorn. There are no “if’s” with God, His love for us has been proven and demonstrated over and over again. There was a thorn in there that I needed to find and pluck out and so I began taking note of every answered prayer, no matter how small, and to focus on just receiving them.
Most of the moments of answered prayer I count are very small, very insignificant on the surface of it all, but they have an impact, they matter, and a bunch of very small things all add up to something very grand and majestic.
Laughing here, but kingdom maths is so hard!Β The last shall go first, the least is greater. Three parts make one majestic whole, two people get married and become one, and when something is taken from you, you’ve just experienced a huge gain, a profit, because God will replace it ten fold. Or as somebody smart recently said, when we tithe it leaves our hand but it never leaves our life.Β
Answered prayers can be rather amusing, too. The other day I was in the grocery store waiting in line and praying. Lord, the world is so unsettled, people done lost their minds, and I need your peace, I need your safety. A stronger sense of safety Lord, that’s what I need right now. I had no sooner opened my eyes when I discovered I was surrounded by these 3 guys, open carry guys, all with their eyes twinkling at me above their masks as we stood there waiting in line. I started laughing as I am prone to do and the first thing that came out of my mouth was a bit of a quip, Well now, I suddenly feel very, very safe!
Exactly.
It was so much more than that though, it was more of a, I feel very safe, very heard, very known, and very loved. Those guys had no idea that they were an answer to prayer. They were literally just buying kool aid and ranch dressing. Their presence would not have meant the same thing to other people, nor would I even have noticed them if I hadn’t just been praying for something symbolic, some tangible representation ofΒ “safety.” What does “safety” even look like?
Well apparently for me, safety looks like a being surrounded by pleasant conversation and three heavily armed guys in the Cheetoh aisle.
Isn’t it wonderful to see the Lord show off? I think he loves it, too.
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Amen! It’s so wonderful! We kind of have to soften our heart, train our eyes to see it, but it’s there. π
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And he does have more difficulty with the heart softening kinds of actions, due to his own decision to give man the choice. It is easier to make a butterfly appear out of nowhere.
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“It is easier to make a butterfly appear out of nowhere.”
Awesome comment, Oneta. I think the maker of heaven and earth who can make butterflies appear out of nowhere actually invests His time in trying to soften our hearts! How amazing is that? Reminds me a bit of, “what is man that you are mindful of him?”
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One of my favorite Bible verses about prayer is in Luke. I think about it often in order to remind my self about God’s attitude towards the prayers of His children. Does anyone else find it astounding that Jesus invites us to make utter pests of our selves when it comes to our prayers?
Luke 11:
5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;
6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?
7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.
8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.
9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
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Isn’t that just the coolest thing ever? We are invited to be a pest, to go boldly before the throne of grace, to pray without ceasing! I also really like the tale of the persistent widow and the judge who finally rules in her favor, just to get rid of her! We don’t have to convince God of anything, but that same spirit of persistence and determination is the right one. You see that same theme encouraging us to be bold and persistent in making our needs known, over and over again. The woman with the issue of blood wants her healing, so she just reaches out and takes hold of the hem of his garment.
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Howabout the Cyro-Phoenician woman of Matthew 15? Jesus calls her and her kind dogs to her face and she just doggedly persisted and did not shrink from arguing with the person she just called “Lord, Son of David.”
21 Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.
22 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.
24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
25 Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.
26 But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and cast it to dogs.
27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.
28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
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Yes! I call her the Lady of the Crumbs. It takes some genuine boldness and some genuine humility on her part to challenge Him, and He rewards that, He says, “O woman, great is thy faith….”
That’s one of my favorite tales, because she could have been offended, she could have accused Him of racism or something and walked away. And He could have simply had the disciples chase her off, but He doesn’t, He almost provokes her, encourages her.
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Reblogged this on emotionalpeace.
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Thank you, Julie. π
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You are welcome, it is a good and timely post to share.π
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Yes, and He answers prayers that you don’t really expect to be answered.Too long of a story, but He intervened in the life of my brother-in-law and literally brought him back from the brink of death just this past week. It was amazing!
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Praise the Lord! That is good news. π
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I find that fascinating, this praying process is simply the same process as hoping for something to go your way, and the chances are it often does in my experience. But I must admit the coffee delivery was one out of a million.
The 3 armed men joining a line of shoppers wearing masks would not make people in Australia feel safer but in fact it would be the total opposite, unless of course they were armed police. I guess this is the very different culture we live in.
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I know this was a more of a serious ish post but that last line cracked me up a bit. Lol. βIn the cheetoh lineβ
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Well said. IB! I have jokingly called answered prayer the “coincidences of God.” We share testimonies all the time to show how often they’re answered, often in very crazy ways like your coffee story.
And, btw, there is no word in Hebrew for “coincidence” for a reason. π
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