“Don’t worry about
anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let
your requests be made known to God.” Philippians 4:6
Prayer is
one of those tools that we have been given by the Father as a way to let him
know what we are struggling with. I have always found it interesting that we
are instructed to pray about things that God knows about. God knows we are
hurting. God knows when we are happy. God knows what we are truly struggling
with even when we do not. So why has God given us this instruction again and
again?
Prayer is
our quiet time with God for one. Also, God wants us to talk with him and walk
with him in all things. There are many relationships that are described in the
bible about what our relationship with God is. The most common one is a parent
child relationship. God is the Father and as a Father, a good father, he wants
to know when we are hurting and what is on our hearts and minds.
A lot of
times my father would know when something was bothering me and would know what
it was, but he wanted to hear it. My father was a good man, God is still
working on bringing him in to be his son, but my father always strived to be a
good man. We have and still do talk a lot about what is going on and he
probably knows what’s in my head a bit more than just about anyone else, except
maybe my wife.
I’m able to
talk to my father after years or working at it. With my dad I have shared
things that I would not share to close friends sometimes. A lot of my friends
still do not know the kind of life I have lived and the things that I have gone
through in my life. Life has been a very interesting road for me, one that
turns frequently.
I always
said that I would take the road less traveled when I would read that famous
poem by Robert Frost. That road was
grown up and was not the easiest road, but it was a road that called to me. I
have to say honestly and truthfully I have walked the road less traveled by. I’m
not sure Frost realized just how hard of a road that road could be.
The problem
with taking a road that not a lot of people take is most of the time there is a
good reason why people don’t travel down a road. The road is probably more
hazardous, harder to travel. It may go into a bad neighborhood or have a bridge
that closes frequently. It may take you to a town called Dunwich for all we
know. You want to know the dangers of traveling roads that most don’t take,
that is a good read for you, “The Dunwich
Horror” by H.P. Lovecraft.
So let us
travel down that road a bit. The road just looks overgrown at first, a little
more hilly but manageable. The road becomes a bit more rocky and has a bridge
that seems less than stable, but it holds up. We continue along and find that
it goes down into a deep valley. It’s winter and the road has some ice on it,
so going down it’s the concern. You don’t want to cross that bridge again and
it looks like there are lights up ahead, so we travel on.
We begin to
travel down the hill and make it into a small town that looks different. It’s a
town and has all the things that we need at the moment. There is food and
shelter from the storm that is brewing. The place has a queer look about it
though. At first the people ignore you, and then they take interest in you. Finally
someone welcomes you in. She seems friendly enough.
She wants to know where you’re from and what
you do and all the pleasantries of a normal place. She offers you something warm to drink and
eat. More importantly she wants to talk with you. Something still tells you
that this isn’t a place you need to be. Do you listen or do you stay with the
nice pretty woman that seems to want to talk with you.
Well it’s
pretty bad outside, so why don’t I stay for a while. She offers you some wine,
and then it’s late and you’ve had a bit too much wine so she offers you her
bed. The wine has polluted your mind and your judgment, so you make the bad
decision. A little more, you find that
is how most come to stay in this place. The sun doesn’t get down here so often,
but it has everything you need.
This place
is always cold and the hills leading out are always covered in ice, so it’s hard
to get back out. The road to this place was hard enough to keep you from
wanting to go back, and the road ahead is much harder it seems. So you stay a
while, and the longer you stay the harder it is to leave. You find that this
pretty, kind woman is really something a lot more hideous on the inside. You
realize that this is your Hotel California.
Now in this
place, dark, cold and alone, you have reached bottom. How do you begin to climb
out of this pit? And what does any of this have to do with prayer? Everything.
The only way
that you can begin to climb out of this pit is through prayer. You have walked
a path not well traveled and have mistakenly gotten lost. You have found
yourself in a place that does not see the face of God and when it does it only
comes around every few thousand years. Prayer is your way out. Calling out to
the Father and letting him know that you are lost and you need his light to
guide you home.
You call out
that the roads are iced over and you cannot climb them. God the Father sends
the Sun to melt the ice. You begin to climb, but it is still not easy. The ice
has melted and the dirt road is now mud. But at least you can begin to climb.
You travel up and out of this hell that you have been in.
You climb to the top of the mountain that surrounded
this place and can once more see the sun. You can see how far you have come and
how far from the path you have traveled. You only realize after you are no
longer lost just how lost you were. The path that you missed was grown up a lot
more than the rest of the road. Now you see the way out, but it will be very
easy to get lost once more. So you use prayer as your guide to keep you safe.
These people
are not happy that you left them and they seek to grab you once more, so you
pray to keep you safe. You also pray a prayer of thanks to the Father who sent
the Son to make a path of redemption for you. You are walking among enemies
with snares and traps, so you pray. You are alone, so you pray.
1st
Peter speaks of how often and of what we should pray. Pray in all things and
cast all your cares on the Lord your God. How do we stay strong in our Faith?
Through prayer and supplication. How do we stay faithful to God? Through Prayer
which builds upon Faith. What do we do when we have concern, hurts, or worry?
Through prayer all things are possible.
So how then do we strengthen our prayer? Through drawing close to the
Lord our God through study of his word and praying always.
In the Whole
Armor of God, Paul states that the most important piece of the armor is the
Shield of Faith. Faith, why is faith so important? Through Faith our prayers
are stronger and through faith our trust in God is stronger. Faith is the most
powerful tool that we have against sin, evil, ourselves. However we have one
thing stronger, but it is no tool, and we can only access it through Faith.
Prayer in faith our Lord hears our calls, and faithfully following will lead us
out of our darkest situations.
That does
not mean that bad things will not happen. That does not mean that God will not
tear apart countries if it serves a greater purpose, but God protects those
that have faith in him. All of Paul’s faith did not free him from prison, but
did it allow him to spread a message that touches millions today. It did not
save Christ from the Cross, but his sacrifice made all Gentiles Jews in the
eyes of God. We are all his chosen people. He is our father and we use Prayer
as our phone to call him up and talk with him. Prayer keeps us from becoming
prey.
“The Edge… there is no
honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is
are the ones who have gone over.” Hunter S. Thompson
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