Does Prayer Matter?

Guys it has been SO LONG since I have really spent time with The Lord to just sit and pray and talk with Him. Last week I woke up and made myself spend some time praying and journaling (this is how I spend my quiet time). Although, I started praying for a dear friend of mine and their financial situation and felt like why am I praying if God already has a plan for them? If he already knows their needs?

I quickly picked up my phone and messaged her asking “Why do we pray for a certain outcome when we know God already has a plan?”. You could even look at this in another light like “why do we make an effort to make good choices when God already has a plan for our life?”.

Also, I want to take a quick second and just say all of the scripture I will talk about, and pretty much everything here is because I looked it up, or a friend gave me the reference. Please don’t write this off or get the idea that you can’t read this or relate to it because I have it all memorized and figured out and you don’t. I am at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to knowledge around His word and what the Bible says! Give yourself grace and permission to learn all of this in small increments!

It’s okay to ask and wonder.

I also wanted to point out in Matthew 6:8 it says “the Father knows what you need before you ask Him”. So again you might wonder why are we taking the time to pray if God already knows?

If you have wondered this, or haven’t wanted to talk to God because of it, it’s okay. We have all felt like this. God created us AND all of our emotions. He knows how our brains work and why we ask all of these questions.

Plain and simple, God asks us to pray. This reason should be good enough but if you’re anything like me you still ask why LOL.

I believe he asks us to pray even though he knows what we are going to say because it is an act of humility.

It brings comfort to us when we spend time with Him. He knows we need a relationship. In fact, He literally made us to need Him so He can comfort us and bless our socks off when we show up and simply ask for help. We have to spend time with our close friends to invest and give back to the relationship right? Same goes for our relationship with God.

Everything around us is telling us we need to ‘know-how’ and be self-sufficient. I’m guessing God knew our world would be like this so he created prayer so we could have a safe place to go and be free to say ‘I don’t know how’.

God delights in our prayers (Proverbs 15:8)! Whatever you’re saying, he wants to hear it! Gosh, my eyes are welling up with tears thinking about His precious, perfect love for us.

Picture this-

A kind and patient parent with a toddler learning to talk and asking a million silly simple questions. The parent just sits and listens and delights in hearing their little one learn and grow. They want to hear it all. Hopefully to build that trust so later they can be there for them in their teens and all the trials of adulthood because they delight in seeing thier child! A pretty good parent that would be, huh? God is so much better than even this picture. So much that we can’t even comprehend it. If you think you know how good God is, think again. I can guarantee He is far better than your wildest dreams.

Which if you’ve never really prayed or been around people who have prayed brings me to this… Prayer is not just requesting what you need. Prayer is thanking God for what you DO have, praying for blessings and needs over others, and yes asking God for things you need or a desire in your heart. Matthew 7 tells us to ask and we shall receive, knock and the door will be opened. So ask away my friends, tell God what you’re thankful for.

It’s easy for me to be judgemental of myself and feel like I have to be thankful for big grand things God has done. But honestly, a lot of times I just thank Him that no one has recently died. As morbid and strange as that sounds, that is what I am thankful for. That, the sun, my coffee and His deep love for me to meet with me whenever I choose.

I write all of this and deep down I KNOW all of this. But sometimes I still question it. Why do we think twice about things that are good for us? Maybe it was so I could write this post for you to read.

Next week…

All of this also brings the question to mind “If you’re saying God is so good and is ONLY good why do bad things happen?”. That is a great question, which I’d love to chat about in next weeks post!

I hope this inspired you or encouraged you to send this to someone you know who is struggling! It would mean so much to me if you dropped your email address in the subscribe box on the right or at the bottom if you’re on your phone! You will get an email each time I post, which is Tuesdays and Fridays. Unsubscribe at any time!

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Until next time- HH