Back to Prayer…
Good morning, sweet Rise and Shine friends!
It is so good to get back on a somewhat normal-ish routine.
My kids are still home from school, which I am loving, but things are definitely settling back down.
The house is back in order, Christmas put away, and it feels good to have a clean-ish home. :) Well, as clean as it can be with adult children and a big fluffy 75 pound puppy in the house. Ha!
As the New Year begins, a constant theme keeps circulating in my heart.
Prayer.
Last year I began 2025 with prayer and fasting. It is always a good way to start off a new year.
Little did I know just how much I would need all of those prayers by the time April rolled around. Shew!
The middle and end of the year was a whirlwhind of craziness. I am so thankful for those first few months of last year of intentional prayer.
Honestly, I don’t think I could have mentally survived without those prayers sown deep in the soil of my heart those early months.
Towards the end of the year, my prayers began to dwindle.
I was still reading God’s Word daily, but my prayer life took a hit.
So, I am stirred to amp up my prayer life again.
Desperately, I need it.
Prayer is our intimacy with Jesus.
It is the place where we lay it all down.
It is the place we lament.
It is the place we beg for His ear.
It is the place that so often He speaks.
Talking with many of my Christian friends, prayer seems to be on the back burner a lot for many of us.
I think it is because it seems so…..fruitless.
Oh but goodness….it is the opposite of that.
Prayer is the breeding ground for fruit!
Prayer is the breeding ground for miracles!
Prayer is what shapes us and molds us to be more like Jesus.
The more we spend time with Jesus, the more be become like Him.
Jesus taught us to pray by His example.
He was daily getting up early to be with His Father.
He even gave us a prayer to pray!
“This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.”
Matthew 6:9-13
Yet, we make it more complicated than it should be, don’t we?
Jesus is simple. His ways are easy and straightforward.
Our prayers are to be the same way.
Another way is to use scripture to pray. Add a verse of two or three of scripture to your prayer and goodness, it just lights up that prayer!
The best way to pray for me is to write down my prayers.
I like to keep track of what I am praying for because when God answers, it is a HUGE FAITH builder!
Recently, God answered a prayer that I had not even really prayed. It was more of a desire that I had stirring in my heart. I was blow away when God answered the prayer because I had not even taken the time to form the prayer with my words or pen.
Do you see how intimate He is!!
He sees the longings, desires, and pleas of our hearts.
"Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." - Psalm 37:4
Just like a good Father, His desire is to answer those prayers that align with His Word.
Please do not think for one second that He does not want to answer your prayer. His will is for our GOOD!
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28
Many of us have been deeply wounded by unanswered prayer. I understand this.
However, I have also come to really truly believe that His Ways are Higher…His thoughts are not our thoughts…Isaiah 55:8-9
Certainly, we will not always know why those prayers remain unanswered, but we can know and trust that He loves us and He desires Good for us.
There have been several very large prayers that I have prayed over the years that were a resounding “no” from The Lord.
I don’t really understand why the answer was no, but looking back, He completely redirected my path and brought different blessings. In ways I never could have imagined.
Sometimes, to be honest, the hurt is still there over those “No’s”.
Each time that pang of hurt washes over me, I take it right back to Jesus.
I trust You. I trust You. I trust You.
I whisper those words over and over and over.
He has proven Himself Faithful, and I can lay all my unanswered prayers on this Truth.
He sees what we do not see.
He knows what we do not know.
So, I pray.
I just keep going to Him with my load of pleas, my loads of praise, my loads of tears, and my loads of weariness.
He meets me right there. Every single time.
He is never too busy.
He is always Present.
As we begin a new year, let’s commit to pray more.
We will never regret our time in prayer.
Prayer will always reap good for us. Always.
The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. James 5:16
on my knees,
jill
