Taking Prayer Seriously

Saturday's Devotion (1-7-06)

"And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?" Luke 18:7 (KJV)

I would recommend that you all read the entire parable in Luke chapter 18 of the Bible, if you haven't already. It's about God's children getting the justice that they cry for... But, to me I think it applies to all prayer. If we keep crying out to God, then won't He answer? He will answer in some way. You will get what is best for you, if you go to God. If you pray once for something, and then never pray for it again are you trusting God for that thing, or are you showing that what you asked for wasn't really that important to you? Seems like something to think about.

It makes me think about how I used to answer prayer request. I would pray once for the people, and then think that was enough. I don't think I realized the importance. I don't think that I took their welfare seriously enough. Now, I try to pray as much as I can for people that submit requests. Sometimes they are so over-whelming that I can't list them all off to God daily, so I say, "Do your will with these prayer requests." If there are really important ones, I will list them off in my prayers. I have this growing desire to want to do more, but I can't bring myself to do it all the time. I do pretty well with the prayer requests now I think, plus Beryl answers them too. But with other things, I want to do more for the Lord, and for other people.

Anyway, God does answer prayers. One time I did pray for patience, and He started that work in me. I only prayed for it once, so He does hear your first call and answer. I'm just thinking that we need to be more serious in prayer. We need to take it seriously, because God answers prayers! If your prayers are so important to Him, then I want to take your prayers more seriously, and you should take other peoples' prayers more seriously. I do always pray for each request by name when I first receive them, but sometimes the amount of requests is too much to handle to keep praying by name daily. But every request sent to this site is answered, and prayed for. Whatever you desire in prayer, seek it out. Don't just pray for it once, and then say, "God's will be done." No! Show God that you want it! Show God how important it is to you. Solomon prayed for wisdom, not for himself... But so he could judge God's people righteously. He got his answer, and he got other blessings for caring about those people so much. God wants you to care for others that much too. When someone comes to me for a prayer of healing, I seek their healing as if they are my own family. Because I know that they are someone else's family, and because my prayer for them is important to God. Don't be mediocre in prayer.

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this message, and for all things. Please forgive us of all our sins, and we forgive all those who've wronged us. Please help us to take prayer more seriously. Draw us closer to you, and don't let us be mediocre people. In Jesus name. A-men!

God bless!

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