Corona Devo 1060

The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. (17) Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! (18) Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.  ~James 5:16-18  

~~~

We started doing a puzzle today.  Sorting, grouping, finding all the "frame" pieces...you know the drill.  There were a ton of pieces, and I thought I heard a couple hit the floor, but upon clean-up (until next time), I only found one piece that had strayed.  Oh well.

But later that night, I felt something...

Still later that night, we decided to move the puzzle from our kitchen table to another location.  We found an old (big) notepad and proceeded to slip the connected frame onto the cardboard backing for transport.

After "the move", I examined the notepad.  The last time we had used it was 3 years ago, at the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020.  As a family, we had chatted and evaluated the year and written down praises, victories, sorrows, and then we had listed prayers for the coming Year of 2020.

One specific prayer caught my eye: No severe sickness or death.

Do you remember 2020?  

We all do, and we all always will.  

I remember also that everyone in my family, including elderly got Covid...but no one suffered severe sickness or death from it.

I'm not sure what to say about that, except to praise the Lord for that specific prayer that we prayed as a family in January 2020.  

But I hadn't remembered that specific prayer in years...until I saw it again, like a piece of a puzzle that had gone missing. 

I hesitate sharing such a story, because there is nothing special or chosen about our family simply because we prayed a prayer in January, and it could have happened that we had suffered severe sickness or death in 2020.  But, because we didn't, and I recently found proof of a prayer request...what else can I do but offer glory to God?

I know that our Heavenly Father is no genie-in-the-sky, but if you are asking me if I truly believe that sharing our lives, hopes, dreams, fears and prayers with Him makes a difference in our lives...the answer is Yes.  I believe with my whole heart that it makes every difference in our lives.  And I pray that you do too.

It's called "faith".

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  ~Hebrews 11:1

If we read the Psalms...David believed God.  He believed in God, and David spoke (prayed) to Him about everything (highs, lows, victories and convictions).  

Trust in Him at all times, you people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.  ~Psalm 62:8

~~~

We are not alone in believing in Him, and we should not be embarrassed about praising Him.

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.  ~I John 5:14

He hears us.  

That don't mean we get everything we ask for, y'all!  

(That is immature faith.)  But we can know and trust that he hears us every-single-time we whisper His name and a prayer.  And we can leave it in His hands at that point.  

Keep whispering to Him.  We can have confidence that he hears us.

~~~

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. (7) And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  ~Philippians 4:6-7

We can't even know everything that we need to be praying about...but God sums it up by saying "in every situation...present your requests to God".  

Whatever we are facing today, or even if we want to pray a hedge-of-protection around the unknown of tomorrow...do it.

Have you tried (actually doing) what these verses prescribe?  It's like a wild chemistry experiment, but without the Bunsen burner---and it works!

When we authentically pray and present our requests to God (lay them down!)...He does something crazy and He gives us His peace about it.  Even if the answer is not what we want to hear, we have invited Him in and we can have peace in the hearing and the living. 

 

“But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”  ~Matthew 6:6-8

~~~

Faith is the missing piece of our puzzle.  As humans, we want to try and solve everything ourselves, or just stay stuck in worry...but God is the answer, and faith-in-God is the anecdote for us.  Prayer (talking to God) is our direct connection, and it's real.  

So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. (23) For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. (24) Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.  ~Mark 11:22-24

Blessings,

sarah

https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com