SubscribeGot problems? Pray
Ever found yourself between the proverbial rock and a hard place? Ever been so tangled up in problems that you have not known which way to turn to free yourself? Ever felt so alone that you did not recognize that there were loving people all around you? Ever found it difficult to walk in faith when obstacles constantly blocked your path?
At one time or another, I’ve experienced a range of situations like those and more. During a period in my life, I focused so much on the problems that they seemed to grow rather than to shrink. Fortunately, I came to learn about and practice applying the power of prayer to circumstances in my life.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, my mother’s prayers sustained me as a child and into early adulthood. But after her death nearly 20 years ago, I finally came to the point where I had to cry out to God for myself. As I have grown spiritually, I’ve also come to know that prayer involves listening to God not just begging God for quick fixes.
Prayer has become my portal into a deeper relationship with God. Its life transforming force takes me beyond my nagging problems and helps me focus on those areas where I can make a difference in the world for God.
Over the last 14 years, I’ve become a hungry student of prayer. I listen intently to sermons on prayer; read the Bible and other books; and regularly attend prayer meetings. I helped start a College of Prayer in Washington, D.C., and this summer in Benin, West Africa. Just mentioning Benin gives me shivers. That was an awesome prayer experience. (More on that to come.) Through the College of Prayer, I and many others have developed deeper, more meaningful and more active prayer lives.
This week I began a six-week course at the Shalem Institute, called the School of Prayer, in which I am learning more about different forms of prayer with a community of people from all walks of life and different faith practices. I am on an adventure and God is my guide.
So when problems arise now, I don’t weigh myself down with lots of worries (maybe a few for a few moments), instead I do as the Scriptures advise and cast my cares on Him and leave them there. I relied on prayer when I didn’t receive the recognition I expected at work, when church life grew tedious and when friends’s illnesses pierced my heart. And prayer has not failed me yet. It sustains me. It gets me up in the morning and keeps me going throughout the day.
If you ever find yourself between a rock and a hard place, do what I’ve learn to do — make room to pray.
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