Me: That is an old head stone.
Prodigal: Yes, from 1784
Me: People died then, and people will continue to die, but I hope they know the Lord.
I was listening to a sermon on you tube this weekend. This sermon was amazing! There was a focus on Jesus. There was passion from the Holy Spirit, and there was truth of scripture. I was enjoying the deep slow voice ,and the different points that were being made. The sermon was like a good recipe. It had a mixture of several points, and maybe a couple of them that surprised you in the mix.
The time flew by as I was listening, and I heard an amen escape from my mouth several times during that hour. I was laughing, I was convicted and I was worshiping all in one sermon. There was joy in my heart, and praise on my lips. This man knew the Lord, and knew how to tell me about the Lord.
He said one comment though that hit me in my spirit. He told people how he appreciated them praying from Him, but at the end of the day He depended only on himself to pray, and not others.
I think growing up in church the one of the classic statements that you hear is I will pray for you. I am praying for you. How can I pray for you. These are great statements, and great ways to help others. Let’s look at it from a different angle.
We can have people clean our house, cook food for us, drive us to the store. We can even have people pay our bills, make phone calls for us, and visit with us. One thing though is if you don’t pray yourself, how do you know the Lord our savior? If only other people are praying for you, where is the connection?
Praying yourself helps develop a routine of communicating with the Lord. Think about it. There are times, and days you may call friends or family. Even if it is not a set time, you may get an idea that it has been a long time since you heard from someone so you may reach out. This constant communication is what helps develop that friendship. This reaching out lets them know you care.
If someone reaches out for you to contact your family, and friends, then they may receive the message or maybe they don’t. Even if they get all the words right that you wanted to communicate, is the emotion behind the message correct? I have noticed also that when someone is using a third party to try to communicate with me, the intimacy is loss. That person did not come to me. There is not one on one with them. These aspects can also happen from our end with God. If there is never one on one prayer, do you feel intimacy with God even though your grandmother prays hours for you everyday?
God never attended for their to be a lack of intimacy in relationship, he wants more of it. God really would like to hear from us personally. He does not want an update from your parents are friends about your day. God wants to personally hear your emotions, your voice, and how you approach Him with your life. He doesn’t want a third party as a go between that may ,or may not deliver the message that was intended. Going to God daily is a way that a relationship is grown, and developed over time. It is a way to understand each other.
How about consistency? How often are you going to pray for yourself. How often will others. I am on my mind daily, and daily I want guidance. So daily I go to the Lord about myself. Honestly sometimes I am only praying weekly for others, or if they are in front of me. I am way more selfish , and needy then that. Sometimes I need prayer for months over the same issue every day. My days involve me struggling, and times of being tempted.
At times I am in a period of growth and understanding more about the bible and prayer. Sometimes my trial is lasting for months, and years, and I need prayer of encouragement to help me through. Often others understand you need prayer, but to them the time available is only once a week, and you need prayer every hour. We can pray for ourselves every minute if needed.
Then there is a person’s heart. I have had some people tell me they were praying for me, and I am pretty sure they were praying for me to go away. There was unforgiveness ,and anger in their heart toward me. Even if someone’s heart is not full of anger toward me, some people will pray their agenda’s over you. My life is surrendered to the Lord. I want God’s will to be done, and not my will.
People have good intentions, but often they look at your life through their eyes. They don’t see your past, and future. They may have only seen you for the past five years. Sometimes people know you for a year, and think that you should following everything they say. At times we are all confused and may pray a certain outcome, or certain specific goal.
Sometimes God will say to you My way if not your way, my thoughts are not your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9) The Lord may do things differently , and ones who pray for us may not understand this. With prayers that are agenda focused away from God’s will, this can confuse us, and distract us. This is not encouraging a brother or sister, but instead just encouraging a distraction from truly seeking God’s will in everything.
One concerned that is not often brought up is the fact that if you are in sin that has continued, and you have not repented then your prayers may not be heard. Isaiah 59:2 states that “your iniquities have made a separation between you, and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.
At times people think their prayers are not answered because they are not a pastor, or God does not love them that much. The real answer is repentance of sins has not been asked from God. So the sin is blocking the prayers. As believers we can all develop times, and areas in our lives that are blind spots. We operate as usually, and are not realizing that unrepentant sin is carving a rut in our lives. It is done so slowly that it can take years to understand how this sin has slowly been decreasing our relationship with the Lord. If we are asking this person to pray for us then, our prayers were never heard. There unrepentance has blocked the relationships, and prayers there were uttered with their voice.
They may appear in obedience because they never miss a Sunday at church, but there heart is far from God. Jesus taught about this in Matthew 15:8,9 when states “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. In verse 9 Jesus continues to add “They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.”
With something as life giving, important, encouraging, relationship building as prayer, who do we rely on for this? Do I put all this in my own hands? Do you put this in hands of a person who may, or may not be able to handle in the way God would like it to be handled?
For me, I would like to say thank you for praying for me. Today though I need to make sure I build that relationship myself. Just me, and God. No third parties. No messages that may be what I said, or not. Just me, and God.
But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O LORD, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.
PSALM 69 : 13
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
