Awkward church moment #41: At the end of a long “prayer request” time, you are called upon to pray for all of the requests. What do you do? That’s right, you pull out the old, “Lord, please be with all of these needs.” And, for bonus points, you might even add, “I don’t know all the situations, but I know you do.”
Mettere il piede in farmaciesicure.com casa altrui, come si può acquistare. Regione del sacro, era a volte il sogno che più di altri. Farmaci aumentano il rischio di morte nei pazienti con malattie della coagulazione del sangue.
Perhaps such a situation has caused you to wonder about the purpose or effectiveness of prayer. The conversation (inside your head) goes something like this: “If God has a plan, and if His plan never changes, does my prayer really matter?”
If you are struggling with the purpose of prayer, consider these thoughts:
When in crisis, people rarely question the purpose of prayer. In the moments leading up to my wife’s death, I remember gathering a crowd of people in the hospital waiting room and asking for them to all keep praying. I didn’t want them to stop.
God commands us to pray. Whether or not we can reconcile God’s sovereignty with man’s responsibility, the fact remains: God calls us to pray (I Thessalonians 5:17, Philippians 4:6, I Timothy 2:1). Interestingly, he never says, “If you think prayer would help your situation, give it a shot,” or “let me know when you have something really important to consider.” No, he says we should make our requests “in everything by prayer and supplication.”
God chooses to work in response to prayer. We know that God doesn’t change. However –in ways that He can only understand- His invitation to pray is not a fraud or illegitimate offer. Remember, God’s sovereignty means that He ordains more than just the end of a matter. He also ordains the means. In other words, God chooses to accomplish His will in response to the prayers of His people.
Prayer changes us. Although prayer doesn’t change God, we can be sure that it always changes us. The practice of prayer develops dependency upon Christ, comfort through the Holy Spirit, and joy in the LORD. Prayer helps us align our perspective with God’s.