Prayer Changes Things

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  

Philippians 4:6

 "I have so much to do today that I shall never get through it with less than 3 hours of prayer."

-attributed to Martin Luther 

Summer is going to be a blogging challenge for me. I have an incredibly busy schedule with the kids, college registrations, vacation travel, and so on. We just completed graduation ceremonies in Chicagoland, and then down in St Louis, this past weekend. Now we are preparing for the parties and celebrations! I am in full cleaning and cooking mode this week. Busy, busy, busy. However, ladies, as the quote above states, I have so much to do that I have to spend some time in prayer.

"The greatest tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer, but unoffered prayer."
F.B. Meyer

I want to talk about prayer today. Our prayer life is not only important but a reflection of our relationship with Christ. Prayer does not have to be the time spent on your knees next to your bedside. Prayer can take place anywhere, anytime you choose to speak to God. I pray while washing dishes, folding laundry, walking the dog, driving the car, and watering the flowers. That is the beauty of our relationship with God. He is always present with us and available for conversation. No topic is off-limits; no subject too touchy. I love that I can pour out my heart to the Lord without worry about my wording or tone or body language. He always understands, always hears, always believes in the best for me. 

"Prayer requires more of the heart than the tongue." Adam Clarke

Prayer for me can be silent conversation in my mind directed to my Father. At other times, I actually speak the words out loud. Many times the discourse takes place on paper in my journals. Throughout the day, I may also sing my prayer when the words of a song move me to cry out to the Lord. The beauty of prayer lies in variety and the fact we do not have to be ritualistic.

"Pray as if everything depended on God, and work as if everything depended upon man."
Francis J. Spellman

I have a sign on top of my refrigerator that states: Prayer Changes Things. When I bought this plaque many years ago, my thoughts were that God would alter the course of events if I prayed long and hard about it. Over time, the phrase took on new meaning, as I learned that God did not always intervene and give me my way. But He did change things...and the thing He changed the most was me. Through time spent in prayer, my attitude changed. My thought process changed. My relationships with others changed. My actions changed. Yes, prayer changed things in ways I never imagined possible even when the earthly, tangible results were not as I hoped. Not my will, but thine be done! That is how we pray.

"Talking to men for God is a great thing, but talking to God for men is greater still." E.M. Bounds

Ladies, today I pray that all of us will exercise the privilege and power of prayer. Spend time with the Lord. You have too much to do not to take time and pray! Nothing in your schedule is more important or pressing. Your greatest provision for the people in your life is to pray for them, bring them before your heavenly Father in love and tenderness. Ask God for His blessing over them, for His power to be known in their lives, and for their hearts to accept His offer of grace and salvation. Pray, sisters, that Christ's sacrifice upon the cross would not be in vain, that we and our loved ones alike, would live like people worth dying for, because Christ thinks we are. He gave His life in exchange for ours that we may live everlasting in His presence and with one another. Believe. Pray. Accept the gift. Spread the Word. God loves you!

And so do I!

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Mark 11:24