It’s a Privilege to Pray

God sits on His throne in His temple. Jesus sits beside Him, vigorously pleading for those He loves. For us. The Holy Spirit is there too. On our behalf He utters groans that words cannot express. And then there’s us. Sitting here, yet welcomed into the presence of this Almighty God (Psalm 11:4, Psalm 18:6, Jeremiah 50:34, Hebrews 7:24-25, Romans 8:26-27).


–He invites us to come with confidence (Hebrews 4:16).


–He tells us our prayers are powerful and effective (James 5:16).


–He says pray about anything and everything. When we do He gives us His peace (Philippians 4:5-6).


–He tells us that faith the size of a mustard seed can say to a mountain, –“Move!” and it will move (Matthew 17:20).


–God says He loves us more than we can know and that He is able and willing to do more than we ask or imagine. (Ephesians 3:18-20)


It’s a privilege to pray.

How Love Influences Prayer

“He prays best, who loves best
All things, both great and small;
For the dear God, who loves us,
He made and loves all.”

adapted from Samuel Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (text of 1834).

Control

God will do to me whatever he has planned. He controls my destiny (Job 23:14).

This humbles and calms me as I trust and pray.

Wisdom

God alone understands the way to wisdom: he knows where it can be found (Job 28:23).
If you need wisdom, ask our generous God and he will give it to you (James 1:5).

If you ask for wisdom, you should also know this: The fear of the Lord is true wisdom; to forsake evil is true understanding (Job 28:28).

True Prayer

“In true prayer we don’t go demanding; we go trusting.
We don’t barge into God’s throne room with all the right words;
we go in looking for God’s love and mercy”*

*Rick Osborne, Teaching Your Child how to Pray, p.61.

ASK

Ask
Seek
Knock

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you (Matthew 7:7 bold mine).

Prayer Has Great Power

You might wonder what value your prayers have. But the Bible says, “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results (James 5:16).”

A wonderful result of earnest prayer that we see is a strong, healthy grandson and a daughter recovering from covid. We are grateful to the many who prayed.

To God alone be the glory!

When People Pray

When we learned she was in labor, we enlisted an army of people to pray for our daughter. She was very sick with Covid.

Her covid symptoms disappeared when she walked into the hospital to have the baby. They came back the next day, but she’s improving steadily and able to care for her sweet baby boy.

The Lord listens when people pray.

Woken to Pray

The Lord woke me up to pray for our pregnant daughter who was sick with COVID. I did not know her labor had begun. She delivered a healthy baby boy later that day. We are so grateful to God for the gift of our precious grandson.

The Lord woke me up to pray so he could answer my prayer.

Victor Hugo on Prayer

“To place the infinity here below in contact, by medium of thought, with the infinity on high, is called praying.”*

Victor Hugo, Les Miserables, p.321.

Confident Hope

Pray with confidence in God who controls everything for our good and His glory.

We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God (Romans 8:28).

All glory to God our Father forever and ever! Amen (Philippians 4:20).