Happy new year everyone!
I (Aimee) wanted to start 2011 by talking about prayer. I hope that’s ok with you all. It’s my plan to put up several posts about prayer. I don’t know exactly how many… we’ll just play it by ear.
So, let’s start with a few questions:
What do you think about prayer?
Do you pray on a regular basis?
What kinds of things do you pray about?
Do you think that God is really listening?
Do you think that God really answers prayers?
If you had asked me those questions when I was in high school, or even early in college, I would have said:
What do you think about prayer?
“I think that prayer is a very useful tool when you’re in a difficult situation. I find it very moving sometimes when we pray together at church.”
Do you pray on a regular basis?
“I pray before eating dinner almost every day. And I pray when I need help with big problems.”
What kinds of things do you pray about?
“It all depends on what I need.”
Do you think that God is really listening?
“Yes. Absolutely. He’s listening.”
Do you think that God really answers prayers?
“Yes. He answers prayers. He just doesn’t always answer them the way that we would expect.”
If you asked me those questions today, almost every single one of those answers would be different, except the last two: Yes. Absolutely. He’s listening. Yes. He answers prayers. He just doesn’t always answer them the way that we would expect. My other answers would be different for the most part in that they’d be a lot longer and more involved.
I had such a simple idea about what prayer was when I was younger. I didn’t question it. I was taught to pray a certain way and at certain times and that’s what I did. It wasn’t until I was in my early 20s that I started questioning my previous practices. And it wasn’t until about 2 years ago that I really started studying what the Bible and what scholars had to say about prayer.
Since then my perspective has changed so much. I pray much more often now, not just over food and not just when I’m in distress. And it’s made a world of difference!
For now, I want to encourage you to think about how you would answer those questions:
What do you think about prayer?
Do you pray on a regular basis?
What kinds of things do you pray about?
Do you think that God is really listening?
Do you think that God really answers prayers?
And if you’re inclined, I’d love it if you shared your answers.
And I’d like to encourage you to pray about it. Turn to God and ask Him what He’d like to reveal to you about prayer. There’s nothing wrong with praying about prayer. There’s no rule that says you can’t. And you don’t have to feel embarrassed because they only one who knows about it besides you is God, and He loves you.
Pray about it. And I’ll get back to you with some more of my discoveries and thoughts soon.
Hi Aimee! We don't know each other well enough, but I met you at Long Beach when the Tsunami Conference was happening. I met you through Sherann while we were eating at Big Daves. haha~
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad to read about your blog about prayer!!! I used to over-look the power of prayer because I thought it was too easy. I knew about God's power and how he was working in my life to do good things. But I never trusted him, nor took in consideration, of praising God, with the exception of "God, I have finals tomorrow, help me get a good grade" or "God, thank you for the food I have to eat" sort of prayer. Now I pray all the time because I realize that praying to God is SO IMPORTANT to developing a relationship with Him! I pray all the time and I can see the difference from praying half-heartedly. I can gained a new perspective about prayer, and how effective, and beautiful, it is to communicate with God. :)
-Grace Choung
I think prayer says we believe in someone, how deep depends on our faith.
ReplyDeleteI believe God can do anything, but fail.
He is never asleep on the job.
He wants to protect us from sin and most of all be with Him for all eternity.
Prayer is a much needed tool between a Father and a Child.