I was in food store. A thought flashed across my mind, “Buy celery.” I argued in my head. We don’t like celery.” The thought came again. “Buy celery.” I argued again. “When I buy celery, we throw most of it away.”
My young daughter came home with a note from her teacher. “Can you please send celery to school tomorrow?”
I learned a lesson that day. When an idea or thought just doesn’t make sense, it could be from God.
“I called and they would not hear, so they called and I would not hear,” says the Lord of hosts (Zechariah 7:13).”
Take time to listen.
Do I pray just for me? Or do I pray for God?
What motivates your prayer?
Moses left Pharoah’s court and pleaded with the Lord. The Lord responded by shifting the wind, and the strong west wind blew the locusts into the Red Sea (Exodus 10:18-19).
Sometimes God changes the natural world in response to our prayers. He can do anything!
Here’s how the Israelites worshiped God when He delivered them:
“I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously . . .
The Lord will reign forever and ever (Exodus 15:1-18)!”
Worship when God answers you.
The Lord had not yet delivered the Israelites, but, “When they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped (Exodus 4:31).
People who are convinced God will answer their prayers worship as they wait.
Sometimes we pray for a long time without seeing change. Consider the Israelites and have hope.
They cried for help. God heard, remembered his covenant and knew it was time to act. But first, He appeared to Moses and told him the rescue plan. When Moses went to Egypt, life got harder for the Israelites. Even Moses said, “You have done nothing to rescue them (Exodus 5:23)!” God sent ten plagues, one at a time. The Israelites journeyed to and then through the Red Sea. That was when they finally saw God’s answer to their prayers.*
*Read the whole story in Exodus 1 -15.
“Moses pleaded with the Lord to remove all the flies. And the Lord did as Moses asked and caused the swarms of flies to disappear (Exodus 9:30).”*
Don’t complicate prayer. It is profoundly simple.
Even now my witness is in heaven.
My advocate is there on high.
I pour out my tears to God (Job 16:19-20).
I read Job 38-40 as though God were speaking to me. I was silenced and overwhelmed by God’s greatness.
Here’s some of what God asked:
Where you there when I laid the foundations of the earth (Job 38:4)?
Have you ever commanded the morning to appear (Job 38:12)?
Do you know where the gates of death are located (Job 38:17)?
Are you as strong as God (Job 40:9)?
What is your response?
