Don't Worry, Just Pray!

Read Ephesians 3:14-21

A missionary wrote a newsletter to thank his supporters for being "prayer warriors." Because of a typing error, though, he called them "prayer worriers." For some of us, that might be a good description.
In his book Growing Your Soul, Neil Wiseman writes, "Prayer must be more than a kind of restatement of fretting worries or a mulling over of problems. Our petitions must move beyond gloomy desperation, which deals mostly with calamity and despair."
I know there have been times in my life where all of my prayers just seem to cry out for help. There are times in each of our lives that we need God just to do something on our behalf, but if that becomes the sole reason for our prayers, we are missing out on what pray is really about.
When we can really learn how to pray for people instead of delivering us from people, we will see mighty moves of God. Instead of praying, “Lord, make a way where I am not so stressed about my boss”, to, “Lord, bless and encourage my boss, and help them to sense your love,” then God will have an avenue to really make a difference. When you think closely about it, wouldn’t you rather have your boss saved, than for you to be delivered from your job? The Lord's amazing answers will not only help others, but also help to cure your own anxiety!
There is an old song that said, “Why worry when you can pray, trust Jesus, He’ll lead the way, don’t be a doubting Thomas, trust fully in His promise, why worry, worry, when you can pray.” That song is still so fitting because we often forget that when we pray, He hears our heart's cry, and will meet our need. We tend to worry even when we pray. I do not mean to sound harsh, but when you worry, you are basically saying that God doesn’t care or is unable to care for you. Do you really believe that?
Paul was no "prayer worrier." He prayed for God's people that they might know the strength, love, and fullness of God, who is able to do far more than we can ask or even think (Ephesians 3:14-21). Such confidence made Paul a true "prayer warrior." Are your prayers like that? Fervent prayer dispels anxious care.

“I believe God is managing affairs and that He doesn't need any advice from me. With God in charge, I believe everything will work out for the best in the end. So what is there to worry about.”
- Henry Ford

This is my annual Mother's Day tribute. Every year I try to write something different, but this keeps coming out! I love the mom's in my life - Trish, you are a GREAT mom to our two boys and I am eternally thankful to you! Kathy Sanders -you are an awesome mom and I am largely what I am today because of how you invested in me - I love you! Patsy Smalley - You are a fantastic mother-in-law! You have shaped me spiritually more than you will ever know and I am forever grateful! To all the other ladies, from my sister to my aunts and cousins and all those that have at one time or another spoken something into my life - Thank you! May you all have a blessed Mother's Day!!!!

Read I Samuel 1:1-28

I remember how we felt. The excitement and the anxiety were intense. The questions and the supposed answers just seemed to line up after years of emptiness. My wife and I wanted to have children desperately, but because of medical reasons were unable to do so. The phone rang one day, and an opportunity to adopt seemed very real. We bought baby boy items such as clothes and toys, all the things that expectant parents do when a new baby is on the way. We had been married for eight years and really wanted to have a child. Then the other call came. Instant devastation. Heart breaking, red-hot tears. Not understanding why God had allowed the boy we were to adopt to be still-born. There is something special about mothers. It does not matter what kind of mother she is; moms are just special people. So here is my tribute to mothers.
For those we call moms: biological, adoptive, foster, and spiritual mothers, whether mothers by birth, by marriage or by choice, I say, “Thank you for making sacrifices that were never seen; for taking risks that were never recorded, for loving more than we deserved.” It is because of you we are here today, and I honor you.
For those who long to be mothers: the path of obedience thus far has not led you into marriage or motherhood. For those who ache each Mother’s Day, taking a handkerchief to the cheek as you listen to the steady rhythm of a biological clock rounding past midnight again as you continue to believe that God is indeed good. I offer my honor to you.
For those who risk hope month after month waiting for God to give you a child, riding the roller coaster of hope and disappointment, excitement and despair, faith and fact, I pour out my heart to you.
For those who have held a child in your womb, or in your arms and later committed them to God’s eternal embrace, or for those who have walked through the valley of the shadow of death with our heavenly Father who also knows what it is like to bury a son, I give honor to your strength.
For those who were faithful to nurture a child in your womb and then in love placed your baby in the arms of another, on behalf of all adoptive mothers and adopted children everywhere, thank you for your courage and thank you for your sacrifice.
My story did not end in the pain of that loss. We received news about a year later that my wife was indeed pregnant. Now, my sons and I, along with millions of other husbands and children, say thank you to the mothers that have changed our lives. Make sure that “Mom” knows you are thankful for her today.
It was Washington Irving that said, “A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.”

I Know What Prayer Can Do

When we lived in Dover, Delaware from 1988-1993 a gospel singing group of ladies would get up to sing and they would proceed to sing about knowing what prayer could do! What a testimony from these ladies. All these years later and the statement is even more real today - I know what prayer can do!!! The Lord is leading His people to a return to prayer!

I know what you might be saying, "There are churches everywhere praying. In fact, the church hasn't really stopped praying." I would respond by saying that I am not talking about more prayers, I am talking about more prayer. There are churches all over the world that can say that someone has been praying every hour of every day for years, and I commend them for it. However, what has been the structure of their prayers - are they praying for something, a deliverance, revelation, anointing, revival, harvest, healing, etc., or are they really just conversing in a relationship with Jesus?

His desire in this day is that all people everywhere would fall in love with Him so much that they would just want to spend time with Him. He yearns for our fellowship, we are the part of creation that chooses whether to be with Him or reject Him.

David prayed a prayer in Psalm 86:11, "Unite my heart to fear you..." He is looking for people that are consumed with being close to Him. He is looking for people who desire to converse about their days with Him. He may even share part of His day with you! So while prayer can do many things like open blind eyes, unstop deaf ears, raise the dead, restore the broken and a host of other "things", what I have found prayer to do best is draw me near to Him in a relationship that is closer than any other relationship!! How about you? Do you know what prayer can do???

"For prayer is nothing else than being on terms of friendship with God."
                                                                                                                        Saint Teresa of Avila