Priority Mail

“Prayer invites us to rest in the fact that God is in control, and the world’s problems are ultimately God’s, not ours. If I spend enough time with God, I will inevitably begin to look at the world from the point of view that more resembles God’s own. What is faith, after all but believing in advance what will only make sense in reverse.”~ Philip Yancey ~Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?

Prayer is such a wonderful experience simply for the fact that we do find rest and reassurance there. It gives us comfort to know that people are praying for us. It gives us strength to know we can do something for others. It was James who told us, “the fervent prayers of a righteous man are powerful and effective.”

The key word to James’ quote is “fervent.” In other words we are to be keen, eager, zealous, enthusiastic, and passionate in our prayers. The more we do it we find ourselves beginning to look at the world from God’s point of view. If you think about it prayer should be causing an adrenaline rush in us that no energy drink could top. Try selling that out in the market and see what you get! Prayer is something that comes not only with an energy rush but a time of great calming as well.

If you think about it we take prayer to lightly. We often treat it like express overnight mail all in one to get what we want as quickly as it possibly can arrive. That’s not their purposes. Prayers are not measured by how quickly they are answered or how many eloquent words we use to send them. Even Jesus warned about using a bunch of empty words just for show. They are a priority mail between us and God and like the postmen say “if it fits it ships.” Our prayers fit. There are none too small nor any to big for God to handle.

Our part in all of this is to have the faith and patience needed to send our prayers and wait for the answers to arrive. We can’t be like the disappointed kid who throws a fit at Christmas when they don’t get what they want. Our gift is more found in the sending of our prayers than in the arrival of the answers. We may not always get what we ask for but we can rest assure the answers are what were best for us.

This is where faith steps in as we believe in advance what will only make sense in reverse. God is in control and we hand that control panel over to Him when we frequently and fervently go to Him in prayer.

© 2010 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing