Thursday, May 19, 2011

We always should pray and not give up!

I was reading my devotion this morning and one of the notes sent me to Luke 18, the parable of the persistent widow. The opening phrase in Luke 18 is, “Jesus spoke a parable to them so they might understand that we should always pray and not give up”. Sounds like a simple concept but not always easy on the follow through.

There are two times when I find it hardest to pray. I know we should always pray, and I do but that doesn’t mean that it is always easy to pray. One is when things are going really well, so well, that I am overwhelmed with busy-ness. Those are times I have to fight to pray. It is very easy to make assumptions about our relationship with the Lord, to get so caught up in doing things for Him that we forget Him. It is in times like these that we need to remember that God can do it all without us. What He wants most is relationship with us and when we stop or slow down our prayer time, we neglect part of what we have been created for, relationship with the Lord.

The other time that I tend to find it hard to pray is when I am so weary. I know some of you think I am superman, while I appreciate the reference; the truth is I simply have the ability to go and go and go until I crash. When I crash, it is hard to do anything, praying most of all reaching the top of the list, or at least that is how it used to be.

Prayer is really a mental, emotional and spiritual posture, not necessarily a particular position. What I mean by that is, it is an attitude of the heart. I used to think, I needed to get on my knees in order to pray but when you are so weary even that seems like an impossible task. Paul wrote that he prays without ceasing and that we should always pray. My traditions had gotten in the way of my relationship. Because I had felt that I couldn’t assume the position of prayer, due to busy-ness or weariness, I felt I could not pray. The Lord lovingly and graciously taught me, He simply wants me to talk with Him always, as I would anyone that I love. Guess what began to happen! He would lovingly and compassionately talk back, through others, through His word, and through the quietness of my heart.

God wants to communicate with you regardless of the difficulties you may have with prayer or what you are going through. What is stopping you from praying? Maybe it is simply you have prayed and your prayers have seemingly gone unanswered, don’t give up. God can handle being badgered in prayer. I don’t give up no matter how long it may take. I have been praying for my children’s spouses since the day they were born. To be honest, I will keep praying for them until the day the Lord takes me home. It will be a little easier as time goes on because I will know them!

Talk to God! He wants to hear from you. He really loves you!

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