Praying to a God in Total Control

Perhaps we wonder why we should even bother to pray if God is in total control and He already knows everything. We may wonder what our prayers have to do with anything.

First off, when we pray we are establishing a line of communication between us and our heavenly Father, between His Holy Spirit and our own spirit. A relationship ... any relationship cannot survive without communication. If the parties do not speak with each other the relationship begins to fade and will eventually disappear.

Secondly, this connection between ourselves and God, allows Him the means to bring us into alignment with His will. If we are honestly seeking to please Him, then our prayers will be made with open hearts and minds and there will be a willingness to adjust our plans to align with His plans. In addition our prayers afford the Lord the opportunity to impress upon us the desire to pray for those things God desires to bring into our lives.

And lastly, prayer gives us the incredible blessing of participating in God's great kingdom on earth. As we learn to trust Him for answers in agreement with His will and purposes, He gives us greater tasks in prayer. The Lord will place on us the weight of praying for an unsaved friend or family member, or people enduring the hardships of natural disasters, or the state of our nation and the president who serves in office. When we see an answer to our prayers, whether it's big or small, we know He has blessed us with the inclusion of our prayers in the process.

Our heavenly Father calls on us to pray for the simple reason that He longs for us to be involved in His work, especially His work that concerns us. What an incredible privilege it is for us to be encouraged to come before the Creator of the universe and know that He is interested in what we have to say, what we think on the matter. In fact, He is pleased to have us approach Him in prayer and ask Him to fill our needs or meet the needs of someone else we are praying for. And if we are praying according to His will and along His time frame, He will answer every single time.

********

It's so strange that I am typing this series on prayer at a time when I am struggling with prayer myself. (No, I don't believe in coincidences, either.) I wrote out this blog a couple weeks ago and am just now getting to it on my post. It's come at the perfect time. Although I confess it's not going anywhere but to my head at this time. I will need to mull it over and hope it sinks into my heart as the day goes on. It's just that there is a numbness to my heart lately. I'm going through a phase of nonfeeling when it comes to prayer and a sense of purposelessness at the same time. In my head I know and believe what I write about prayer but I'm just going through a difficult time lately getting it into my heart. I decided last summer that I was going to keep a prayer journal and I haven't touched it in weeks. There's been no reason to open its cover. I'm almost to the point of believing God answers prayers; just not mine. Have you ever felt that way? I just feel like I must be doing something wrong when I pray because it doesn't seem to be working for me. (I'm talking about my feelings right now and I know I can't rely on them ... it's fact, faith, and then feelings with feelings being totally unreliable) but I don't know how to discount the feelings. Can anyone help me here??? During my Christian walk I have enjoyed incredibly rich seasons of prayer. I'm just not going through one at this time. This is lonesome. I miss my Father.

It rained almost all night last night. The rain gauge has an inch and a half in it. We got .58 in the gauge yesterday afternoon. It's good to have rain for a change. We need it. I doubt I will go Christmas shopping today since it is so wet and dreary. I'll go sometime next week. I still need to go out to the post office but I think that'll be about it for my adventurous side today. I have a cat asleep on my left hand again and typing single-handedly is a slow process. Mario has just gotten it in his head that when I'm at the computer he can jump up on my desk and take a nap. Occasionally he will shift his weight and press down on the keys. The computer will do all kinds of spastic things when he does that. I've got my keyboard pushed as far to the right as it will go and am typing with my right hand while his head is resting on my left hand. I know I'm establishing a bad precedent here but he likes to sleep up here with me so badly that I can't seem to muster the nerve to boot his bottom off my desk. I will live to regret this I'm sure.

I guess I will publish this and get ready to go run my errands. I didn't do anything yesterday after I finished my blog but sit on the couch in front of the television. I'm serious, that's all I got around to yesterday. I didn't even get out of my pjs. I guess we all need a lazy day every once in awhile (that makes me feel so much better knowing I'm not the only person to have days like that) so guess I'll go get busy and not fall victim to laziness for a second day. I just realized it's Friday again. Where do the days go??? That means no blog tomorrow or Sunday so until Monday ...