Prayer is essential to our relationship with
God. Not only does our prayer (conversation
with God) put us in communication with the
Living God as he hears our requests, it puts
us in the position of the "created" in
relationship to the "Creator" (God). I have
learned that instead of just telling God
what I need and most of the time what I
want, I can use my time in prayer to praise
and worship Him. I call out to the Lord in
the names I read about in the Bible and tell
Him how much I love Him. I also keep a shorter
account of the sins I have committed and ask
for forgiveness and for God to cleanse me (we
are made clean by the blood of Jesus Christ).
He changes my heart when I spend time with
Him. I start to understand what it means
to become more like Christ.
Some people say, "I don't know how to pray". If
you know how to have a conversation with another
person, you can pray. Sometimes we hear people
pray and we think we can never pray like them.
God doesn't want us to pray like anybody else-
He wants us to be ourselves and open our hearts to Him.
All God asks is that we humble ourselves and come
to Him. If we come before God to pray, He will
make Himself and His ways known to us. Jeremiah 33:3
says, "Call to Me (God), and I will answer you,
and show you great and mighty things, which you
do not know." I love that verse- as long as I
call to God, He will answer!
Recently my Bible study group got together for prayer.
We broke up into groups of 3-4 women and brought
our requests before the Lord. We also sat and
waited and "listened" to the Lord. I encourage
you to find somebody to pray with. It is very
powerful to come before the Lord with a bond
as sisters in Christ and it's also very humbling.
I'm reminded when I do that it's not about me.
It's all about God. He is our focus, He is our
strength, He is our teacher, He is our Lord!
If you sit and get quiet before God, ask Him
if He has anything He wants to show you. Write
down what comes to your mind. If you don't feel
like you are getting anything on your mind, ask
God questions or start praising Him again. It
may take some time, but you will learn how to
"hear" from God. Remember, the promise in the
Bible is that "He will show us great and mighty
things."
God Bless You, Leah Amico
