God is Great, God is Good

Read This Before You Pray Over Your Thanksgiving Meal!

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

--Jeremiah 29:13

 

          “God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food….”

Does God hear those little rote prayers we recite over and over as children?  How about those short notes we send up to the ceiling as we lay in bed at night?  I wonder.  We are promised that He hears our prayers, but even the half-hearted-I’m-in-a-hurry, bless-us-as-we-go kind?

 

“Now I lay me down to sleep,

I pray the Lord my soul to keep…”

These questions pricked something in my heart, and sent me on a search to find out more about prayer.  For example, I wanted to know how prayer got started.  Who said the first prayer? Well, the first reference I could find was Genesis 4:26.  This was right after Cain had killed Abel, and Adam’s wife gave birth to Seth.

At that time, men began to call on the name of the Lord.

-- Genesis 4:26

 

But the prayers I found in the Old Testament had a different dynamic from what we know today.  The prayers of Moses, Samuel, Gideon, and Abraham were more like conversations; we’ve turned ours into monologues.  Look at Genesis 18, for example.  Abraham and God are talking about destroying Sodom and Gomorrah.  They engage in a dialogue, and God verbally responds to Abraham’s request.  Why do you suppose we don’t hear His voice like that anymore?  Hearing the voice of Almighty God at the end of “I pray the Lord my soul to take” would certainly shake us up, wouldn’t it?

I began to seriously consider my own prayers.  Those quick, off the cuff sentences thrown mentally at the sky when I need a little help with something.  What does God think about prayers like that?  Are they pinned to a heavenly bulletin board, stuck to the refrigerator in paradise with an angel magnet?  What will He say to me about my prayer life when I’m face to face with Him in Glory?

“You missed it, Holly.  I was there for you 24/7 and you missed it.  You could have chosen to enter the Holy of Holies with Me, but you wasted this precious gift that I offered you.  The doors of My throne room were hurled off their hinges, left wide open, in anticipation of your visit.  But you came rarely and stayed for such brief visits.  You didn’t stop to listen.”

Oh, does this hurt your heart the way it does mine?  How could I ignore this facet of my walk with Him?  The power of constant communication with the Father?  I’m not exactly sure what it means to pray without ceasing, but it’s time I learn.  How about you?

In her article, “Basics of Prayer”, Mary Fairchild listed five things we need to hold in our hearts as we kneel before the throne of God:

 

·        Be humble. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

·        Ask for and receive forgiveness. (James 5:16)

·        Pray wholeheartedly. (Jeremiah 29:13)

·        Have faith. (Mark 11:24)

·        Be obedient. (1 John 3:22) 

 

And we will receive whatever we request because we obey Him and do the things that please Him.—1 John 3:22

 

No more taking this for granted.  No more whispering platitudes at the ceiling fan over the bed.  No more sing-song, catch phrases mumbled over meatloaf.  We’re invited to have a conversation with the Alpha and Omega, the Mighty Jehovah, the Great I AM. 

 

                       It’s time to get on our knees, believers.

                              

Almighty Father, I am so humbled by Your love for me.  As I come before You now, I will be still.  I will listen to Your voice.  I will obey.