God Hears Our Prayers

If we've been a Christian very long we'll know the meaning of the phrase "Prayer changes things." And from that we go on to believe fervently in what it means. God hears our prayers. He answers our prayers. And things change.

When God hears our prayers, He is certain to respond if we are asking in accordance to His will. Almost all the time ... 99.9 percent of the time ... we cannot change God's mind and we will never cause Him to act outside of His plan and what a great plan it is (Jer 29:11)! Sometimes we may pray for things God doesn't want us to have. When this happens God answers our prayers with a negative response. We don't get what we pray for but God has nevertheless answered our prayers about the matter. But if we are honest and earnest about desiring his will for our lives, He will do something even better than what we have asked for. And He will change our hearts accordingly so that we will receive what we long for.

One of the primary purposes of prayer is to discover God's will. As we seek His will, He works in our hearts and minds to develop our full understanding of the situation and guide us to a resolution. Then our eyes and minds will be opened to His point of view so we can pray appropriately. And when we pray for God's will to be worked on His time schedule, we'll discover that we make an impact on the world around us.

Prayer is powerful. Things happen when we pray. We see unbelievers come to a saving understanding of grace. We see the sick healed, and we see evil beaten back. God changes things through prayer every day. We have the awesome experience of participating in His work just by doing the thing we're supposed to be doing anyway ... talking to our heavenly God. Can we impact the world around us? Yes! How much depends on how much time we're willing to devote to prayer and how willing we are to seeking God's will rather than our own.

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Here it is Monday again! Where do the days go? I had a nice weekend. I didn't do too much but had a pleasant weekend anyway. I finished my Christmas shopping Saturday except for one person and he's hard to buy for. And we have an extra week for him because we won't exchange gifts with Michael's kids until New Years when they come up from San Francisco. (Daly City to be exact.) And I've got all the gifts wrapped already too.

I actually wrote a few pages in my prayer journal yesterday. My feelings and thoughts surrounding my prayer life seem to be resolving themselves. They always do, it's just difficult to go through the trial. I prayed throughout the day Saturday and Sunday and it was such a joy! There is truly nothing quite so sweet as prayer with our heavenly Father. Times when we know we have His undivided attention. Times when our words don't just bounce right back at us and strike us in the face. Times when we rest in the contentment that comes from knowing we've been heard. And it feels so right when we make this connection in prayer. It has been a season of testing for me but I think it's just about over. Thank you, Lord Jesus!

I woke up at 6:00 this morning for no apparent reason and just decided to go ahead and get up and get my blog typed for the day. Now I'm thinking about going back to bed for a short nap before getting up to stay up. I have plans to go out to the Post Office today and I'll swing by the church to drop off my reimbursement slip for the cards and postage I bought as a deacon doing church business. I still need to buy more stamps but I'll take care of that later this week. I had some stamps left over last month so I might have a month to buy more, I'll have to see.

We had our Children's Christmas Play at church last night. What a fun time!! I didn't stay too long afterwards though as I really felt like I was ignoring my husband a bit. I know he doesn't mind but what kind of wife am I, if I'm gone all the time? I take my role as helper quite seriously. Just as our Holy Spirit takes His role of Helper seriously. He is, after all, the model for our lives.

I've forgotten about PraiseMoves for two weeks in a row now and I've got my fingers crossed that I'll remember this Wednesday. Thursday night is my deacon meeting and then Saturday we're having Leo over for dinner. Leo is a middle-aged black man who is retarded. He can't read and that breaks my heart. But Leo is always happy! I think he goes to just about every church function he can. (It gets him out of the home for awhile.) He asked me yesterday what we were having for dinner and I told him spaghetti and he was really happy about that. He asked if I'd have bacon bits for his salad so I guess I'll have to fry up some bacon for him since I don't keep bacon bits on hand and can't see buying an entire bottle for just one meal. He is really excited about coming. I told him I'd pick him up about 5:00 and then take him home afterwards. He says he wants to stay and visit for a little while. Pray that this can be a real time of blessing for him. He'll do just about anything to get out of the home. I mean, face it, wouldn't we? That's why I thought to invite him for dinner. Church has stopped Sunday night celebration and he was so disappointed that he won't have that to go out to any more. That's really what made me think of inviting him for dinner. I hope we can find enough stuff to talk about while he's here. You might pray that this will be a good experience for Leo. I would really appreciate it if you would.

Okay I'm going to head back to bed for a little while. (I love to get up and then go back to bed for a little while)! Feels soooooooo good!! Until tomorrow ...