Prayer! Prayer can be a very broad word. When I say the word prayer, it means a certain thing to me. It means that I am indirect communication with my Lord Jesus. I can tell Him things that are on my heart, I can cry out to Him for things that I need, I can talk to Him about others in my life, and I can cry out for the needs of others that I see hurting. So to me, prayer is a very personal time that I spend with my Lord in communication with him.
For others prayer may mean reciting a certain scripture. Or it may mean reciting a poem or something already written out that they follow. And for some it just means asking for something they need or they want without any particular relationship with Jesus in mind. That is not for me to judge that is only for the person‘s own heart to determine if they’re in the right place when praying.
You may ask what is the right place. For me the right place means that my heart is genuinely asking the Lord to help me. I am earnestly seeking to be closer to Jesus so that I may ask with the right heart different things that I would like to see happen.
Some people think that praying for your own special needs puts you in a selfish mindset. You’re asking only for yourself and for your own needs. I feel that with my prayer time I have room to ask for my own personal needs. I cover my family, my loved ones, people that I know that are struggling, for my country, and the list can be unending. That’s not having a selfish attitude. It’s having an attitude of graciousness and love for other human beings in need. I may be praying for a specific friend. I may be praying for someone that hurt me, and asking the Lord why they did that. And that brings me to my next thought. What if we don’t receive the answer we are asking for? What if the Lord answers our prayer in a different way that we didn’t expect?
When we pray, sometimes, it can sound like we are demanding a specific thing from Jesus. That is something I am always so careful about. I do not want to be demanding to my Lord at all, or ever. What is on my heart and what I see as a need, I want to come before the Lord with my heart open, laying it all out before Jesus. I know that He is the one who answers my prayers. But He can use other people for that answer. I may want some extra fellowship, and the Lord places it on someone else’s heart to come visit me. That’s an answer to my prayer directly, and he is probably answering the other person‘s prayer to be used. That’s the beautiful thing about prayer. Jesus knows what’s on our hearts, he knows what we need, before we ever ask him.
When you pray, do you have a Journal with you? That is something I always do, I always have my journal and I write down my prayers. And very often, I write down an answer that Jesus has given me. Sometimes I get an answer almost immediately. Other times it’s been a lifelong experience. That would pertain to my health. I have shared before that I have struggled with health issues for most of my life. Does that make me angry and want to know why Jesus hasn’t answered that prayer particularly? I have to admit, at times when I was feeling my worst, I have gotten angry in the past. But I always knew Jesus had a plan. And I always prayed that he would use my situation to help others. Here’s a brief story about something that took place during one of my surgeries.
My husband was in the hospital, waiting room waiting for the doctor to come out to tell him how my surgery went. It seems like it was hours and hours to my husband, and it was several hours. A doctor came out that spoke English, but it was difficult to understand him at times. He was from a different country. And he thanked my husband over and over again with tears in his eyes,that he was able to observe my surgery, telling my husband that he could finally go back to his home country and perform these surgeries on people there and save their lives. Previously, he was not allowed to do that for some reason. My husband was stunned! He didn’t know how to answer that. He said to the doctor that my prayer was always to help others, and if my surgery would help other people survive, it was worth it. When I woke up, and my husband told me this I was shocked. But then I thought back all those years ago when I asked the Lord to just use my situation to help others. That was one instant where I knew. God answered that prayer. I saw that my prayers were producing fruit. There were several other times that has happened since then, and it just reaffirms my faith that Jesus is here with me, and he is listening, he hears my prayers and he answers them.
I know, without a doubt he is doing the same for you when you pray to him. Jesus so much wants to talk with us and have a conversation with us. He loves us so much.
I encourage you try to take a few minutes out of your morning and talk to Jesus about your day, and then midday talk to him again and share with him your struggles, and then in the evening, take time with him again and share with him how your day went. That is something that Jesus wants every day from you and from me.
Jesus wants a close and loving relationship with us. When we pray to him and talk to him, it gives him so much delight because he loves us. He wants us to be near to him. And through Prayer we have every opportunity to be close to Jesus. Let’s just open our hearts to him every day.
“The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, and delivers them from all their troubles. The LORD is near the brokenhearted; He saves those crushed in spirit.”
Psalms 34:17-18 HCSB
“You will call to Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”
Jeremiah 29:12-13 HCSB
