Dear Friend,
I was standing in the grocery store aisle talking to a friend about prayer and suddenly this stranger butted in and said, “I can’t help but ask, why
we have to pray every day?” We both stood there silently waiting to see which one of us would respond. Finally I said, “Think about it this way; if we never speak to our spouse or never listen to anything our spouse might have to say to us, our marriage relationship will quickly deteriorate. It is the same way with God. Prayer—communicating with God—helps us grow closer and more intimately connected with God. She really became interested. To make a long-long story short, she gave us her phone number and promised to start coming to our weekly bible study! To God be the glory!!! What I gained from that incident was; we
must be very careful what we say in public because you never know who might be listening.
Prayer, for me, is one of my favorite subjects to talk about and one of the most exciting things to do! Prayer can be the most exhilarating and the most frustrating experience in life. When God answers your prayer, it's a feeling like no other.
You stagger around for days, awestruck because the Creator of the Universe reached down and worked in your life. You know a miracle happened, big or small, and that God did it for just one reason: because he loves you! When your feet finally touch the ground, you stop bumping into walls long enough to ask a crucial question: "How can I make that happen again ha ha?" Now, there are times our prayers don’t get answered the way we want. When that's the case, it can be so disappointing it drives us to tears. It's especially hard when you asked God for something undeniably good like someone's healing, a job, or
mending an important relationship. You can't understand why God didn't answer the way you wanted. You see other people getting their prayers answered and you ask, "Why not me?" Then you start to second-guess yourself, thinking maybe some hidden sin in your life is keeping God from intervening. If you can think of it, confess it and repent of it. But the truth is that we are all sinners and can never come before God totally free of sin. Fortunately, our great mediator is Jesus Christ, the spotless sacrifice who can bring our requests before his Father knowing God will deny his Son nothing. Still, we keep looking for a pattern. We
think about times we got exactly what we wanted and try to recall everything we did. Is there a formula we can follow to control how God answers our prayers? We believe praying is like baking a cake mix: follow three simple steps and it comes out perfect every time. Let me clear this up; despite all the books that promise such a thing, there is no secret procedure we can use to guarantee the results we want. With that thought in mind, how can we avoid the frustration that commonly accompanies our prayers? I personally believe the answer lies in studying the way Jesus
prayed.
If anybody knew how to pray, it was Jesus. He knew how God thinks because He is God: In John 10:30 He said, “I and the Father are one." Jesus demonstrated a pattern throughout his prayer life all of us can copy. In obedience, he brought his desires in line with his Father's. My friend, when we reach the place where we are willing to do or accept God's will instead of our own, we have reached the turning point in prayer. Jesus lived that: John 6:38, "For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me." Choosing God's will over our own is so hard when we want something passionately. It is agonizing to act as if it doesn't matter to us. It does matter. Our emotions try to convince us there is no possible way we can give in. We can submit to God's will instead of our own solely because God is absolutely trustworthy. We have faith that HIS love is pure. God has our best interest at heart, and He always does what is most
beneficial for us, no matter how it appears at the time. From my own experiences, sometimes to surrender to God’s will, we also have to cry out as
the father of a sick child did to Jesus in Mark 9:24, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" Like that father, most of us surrender our will to God
only after we hit rock bottom. When we have no alternatives and God is the last resort, we grudgingly give up our independence and let him take over.
In closing, I want you to know......... it doesn't have
to be that way! You can begin by trusting God before things get out of control. He will not be offended if you test him in your prayers. When you have the all-knowing, all-powerful Ruler of the Universe looking out for you in perfect love, doesn't it make sense to rely on HIS will instead of your own puny resources? I don’t really have to remind you; everything in this world that we put our faith in has the potential to fail. God does not. He is consistently reliable, even if we do not agree with his decisions. He always leads us in the right direction if we give in to His will. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus said to his Father in Matthew 6:10, "…your will be done." When we can stand emphatically and say those words with sincerity
and trust, we have reached the turning point in prayer. You must get this down in your spirit; God NEVER abandons those who trust him. It's not about ME, it's not about YOU. It's about God and HIS will. The sooner we learn that, the sooner our prayers will touch the heart of the One to whom nothing is impossible! Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You
will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
Let’s pray:
“Heavenly Father, I humbly admit I go along some days, trying to run my life my own way. I forget
to let go and give YOU control. I omit to stop and ask what You want. Please help me to give you
control, Jesus. I want to follow you. I want what you desire for me. Help me to realize that when You close one door, You open the one You want me to walk through. Help me also to realize that what I desire may not be what is meant for me, or what is best for me. It could lead me away from what your great plan is for me. Lord, help me accept each day as a gift. Help me follow the path You choose for me. Help me to be thankful for what you give me and not to worry about my needs. I do trust You will take care of all my needs. Constantly remind me that my role is to care for those around me and focus on those who need my help. Help me be who and what YOU want me to be. Give me strength, faith and hope, and most of all, give me guidance each and every day. I let go and give you control. I will concentrate on living to please you! In Jesus mighty name, amen”
Simple Nuggets:
1. “When we put our problems in God’s hands, He
puts His peace in our hearts!”
2. “Simply being thankful makes life easier!”
FYI: A flower doesn’t think of competing with the flower next to it....it just blooms!
All my love and prayers,
Minister Dorothy King
I was standing in the grocery store aisle talking to a friend about prayer and suddenly this stranger butted in and said, “I can’t help but ask, why
we have to pray every day?” We both stood there silently waiting to see which one of us would respond. Finally I said, “Think about it this way; if we never speak to our spouse or never listen to anything our spouse might have to say to us, our marriage relationship will quickly deteriorate. It is the same way with God. Prayer—communicating with God—helps us grow closer and more intimately connected with God. She really became interested. To make a long-long story short, she gave us her phone number and promised to start coming to our weekly bible study! To God be the glory!!! What I gained from that incident was; we
must be very careful what we say in public because you never know who might be listening.
Prayer, for me, is one of my favorite subjects to talk about and one of the most exciting things to do! Prayer can be the most exhilarating and the most frustrating experience in life. When God answers your prayer, it's a feeling like no other.
You stagger around for days, awestruck because the Creator of the Universe reached down and worked in your life. You know a miracle happened, big or small, and that God did it for just one reason: because he loves you! When your feet finally touch the ground, you stop bumping into walls long enough to ask a crucial question: "How can I make that happen again ha ha?" Now, there are times our prayers don’t get answered the way we want. When that's the case, it can be so disappointing it drives us to tears. It's especially hard when you asked God for something undeniably good like someone's healing, a job, or
mending an important relationship. You can't understand why God didn't answer the way you wanted. You see other people getting their prayers answered and you ask, "Why not me?" Then you start to second-guess yourself, thinking maybe some hidden sin in your life is keeping God from intervening. If you can think of it, confess it and repent of it. But the truth is that we are all sinners and can never come before God totally free of sin. Fortunately, our great mediator is Jesus Christ, the spotless sacrifice who can bring our requests before his Father knowing God will deny his Son nothing. Still, we keep looking for a pattern. We
think about times we got exactly what we wanted and try to recall everything we did. Is there a formula we can follow to control how God answers our prayers? We believe praying is like baking a cake mix: follow three simple steps and it comes out perfect every time. Let me clear this up; despite all the books that promise such a thing, there is no secret procedure we can use to guarantee the results we want. With that thought in mind, how can we avoid the frustration that commonly accompanies our prayers? I personally believe the answer lies in studying the way Jesus
prayed.
If anybody knew how to pray, it was Jesus. He knew how God thinks because He is God: In John 10:30 He said, “I and the Father are one." Jesus demonstrated a pattern throughout his prayer life all of us can copy. In obedience, he brought his desires in line with his Father's. My friend, when we reach the place where we are willing to do or accept God's will instead of our own, we have reached the turning point in prayer. Jesus lived that: John 6:38, "For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me." Choosing God's will over our own is so hard when we want something passionately. It is agonizing to act as if it doesn't matter to us. It does matter. Our emotions try to convince us there is no possible way we can give in. We can submit to God's will instead of our own solely because God is absolutely trustworthy. We have faith that HIS love is pure. God has our best interest at heart, and He always does what is most
beneficial for us, no matter how it appears at the time. From my own experiences, sometimes to surrender to God’s will, we also have to cry out as
the father of a sick child did to Jesus in Mark 9:24, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" Like that father, most of us surrender our will to God
only after we hit rock bottom. When we have no alternatives and God is the last resort, we grudgingly give up our independence and let him take over.
In closing, I want you to know......... it doesn't have
to be that way! You can begin by trusting God before things get out of control. He will not be offended if you test him in your prayers. When you have the all-knowing, all-powerful Ruler of the Universe looking out for you in perfect love, doesn't it make sense to rely on HIS will instead of your own puny resources? I don’t really have to remind you; everything in this world that we put our faith in has the potential to fail. God does not. He is consistently reliable, even if we do not agree with his decisions. He always leads us in the right direction if we give in to His will. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus said to his Father in Matthew 6:10, "…your will be done." When we can stand emphatically and say those words with sincerity
and trust, we have reached the turning point in prayer. You must get this down in your spirit; God NEVER abandons those who trust him. It's not about ME, it's not about YOU. It's about God and HIS will. The sooner we learn that, the sooner our prayers will touch the heart of the One to whom nothing is impossible! Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You
will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
Let’s pray:
“Heavenly Father, I humbly admit I go along some days, trying to run my life my own way. I forget
to let go and give YOU control. I omit to stop and ask what You want. Please help me to give you
control, Jesus. I want to follow you. I want what you desire for me. Help me to realize that when You close one door, You open the one You want me to walk through. Help me also to realize that what I desire may not be what is meant for me, or what is best for me. It could lead me away from what your great plan is for me. Lord, help me accept each day as a gift. Help me follow the path You choose for me. Help me to be thankful for what you give me and not to worry about my needs. I do trust You will take care of all my needs. Constantly remind me that my role is to care for those around me and focus on those who need my help. Help me be who and what YOU want me to be. Give me strength, faith and hope, and most of all, give me guidance each and every day. I let go and give you control. I will concentrate on living to please you! In Jesus mighty name, amen”
Simple Nuggets:
1. “When we put our problems in God’s hands, He
puts His peace in our hearts!”
2. “Simply being thankful makes life easier!”
FYI: A flower doesn’t think of competing with the flower next to it....it just blooms!
All my love and prayers,
Minister Dorothy King