I'm sure you've probably heard the old proverb "give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime". If you're not sure of the meaning it basically goes like this... You can give someone something which may help their immediate need but better yet if you teach them how to solve that need then you've helped them for a lifetime. God brought this to mind for me in regards to praying for people. I had been praying to God and asking Him for wisdom on how to better pray for people and He reminded me of this old proverb and then its application to prayer. I'm sure if were all honest we have come across someone we look up to, someone we respect and someone we think is a "special person" who hears from God and gets "results". I once went to a church and asked for prayer for work on a prayer night and the pastor of the church asked another man to pray for me and said "We'll get him to pray for you because he always gets results and work for people when he prays..." Even just writing that now it just sounds so absolutely ridiculous hey. Needless to say this mans prayers didn't get me any work. God brought the work in months later after teaching me patience, faith and perseverance - not some fancy prayer by an elevated individual.
People don't get prayers answered - God answers peoples prayers. The Bible makes it clear that God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34) and there are no "special people" that get prayers answered and some that don't. It's the heart that God looks on - not what you've done or what other people think you are. If it was what we did that got our prayers answered then the statement in Ephesians 2:8 "we are saved by Grace through Faith" wouldn't apply at all. We get saved as sinners with no merit at all simply crying out to God to save us and accepting Jesus as the payment for our sins. The Bible says in James 5:17 that Elijah was a normal man just like we are yet he prayed believing and his prayers were answered. Will He help you exactly the way you want? Not always. Will he help you exactly when you want? Not always. Does He hear you always? ABSOLUTELY. So what God is saying in the Bible is this... Pray believing. Not in yourself or what you've done, not in your achievements or who you're connected to... but believing that God hears you because of Jesus, loves you and wants to help you. There's a very important conversation in the book of Job right at the end...
For those who haven't read Job's story it basically goes like this. Job loves God. God blessed Job. Satan says to God "Job only loves you because you bless him..." God agrees to remove the blessing of protection to prove a point that Job loves Him for who He is not what He does for him. Job suffers badly - not at the hand of God - but from the evil affliction of the devil. Job remains faithful. God proves His point that even in immense tragedy and suffering nothing can separate us from God's love and our relationship with Him. Job has the privilege of meeting God in person and He rewards Job more than twice over for being faithful. The conversation I'm referring to is between the suffering Job and his youngest friend Elihu. Basically Elihu says this "You shouldn't have tried to justify yourself to God Job... You should have just maintained that God is good despite what happens." Why am I telling this story from the book of Job? Because we all at times either think we are something special and deserve to get special treatment or we elevate others thinking they might be able to get results instead of us. In both cases our mind set is incorrect. We are all just humble little children loved by our Father in Heaven - all on equal terms because of Jesus.
Prayers are answered simply because we believe in Jesus, who He is and what He's done - not who we are or what we've done whether it good or bad. So wrapping up, what I'm really saying is this... Don't fall into that trap of thinking someone else down here is the solution to your problems or the way your prayers will be answered. We should all care and pray for each other but more importantly than getting someone else to pray for you - God wants to hear from YOU. He values YOU. He knows YOU and wants to help YOU. So pray... Prayer is just talking to God. Pour out your heart to Him because He wants to hear from you. Believe He hears you and wait for Him patiently. He will make a way despite how impossible it all looks. What my prayer for you today is this... I'd love to pray for you but more than that - I'd love to pray WITH you believing for what you need God to do. God loves you and it's you that's special to Him.
People don't get prayers answered - God answers peoples prayers. The Bible makes it clear that God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34) and there are no "special people" that get prayers answered and some that don't. It's the heart that God looks on - not what you've done or what other people think you are. If it was what we did that got our prayers answered then the statement in Ephesians 2:8 "we are saved by Grace through Faith" wouldn't apply at all. We get saved as sinners with no merit at all simply crying out to God to save us and accepting Jesus as the payment for our sins. The Bible says in James 5:17 that Elijah was a normal man just like we are yet he prayed believing and his prayers were answered. Will He help you exactly the way you want? Not always. Will he help you exactly when you want? Not always. Does He hear you always? ABSOLUTELY. So what God is saying in the Bible is this... Pray believing. Not in yourself or what you've done, not in your achievements or who you're connected to... but believing that God hears you because of Jesus, loves you and wants to help you. There's a very important conversation in the book of Job right at the end...
For those who haven't read Job's story it basically goes like this. Job loves God. God blessed Job. Satan says to God "Job only loves you because you bless him..." God agrees to remove the blessing of protection to prove a point that Job loves Him for who He is not what He does for him. Job suffers badly - not at the hand of God - but from the evil affliction of the devil. Job remains faithful. God proves His point that even in immense tragedy and suffering nothing can separate us from God's love and our relationship with Him. Job has the privilege of meeting God in person and He rewards Job more than twice over for being faithful. The conversation I'm referring to is between the suffering Job and his youngest friend Elihu. Basically Elihu says this "You shouldn't have tried to justify yourself to God Job... You should have just maintained that God is good despite what happens." Why am I telling this story from the book of Job? Because we all at times either think we are something special and deserve to get special treatment or we elevate others thinking they might be able to get results instead of us. In both cases our mind set is incorrect. We are all just humble little children loved by our Father in Heaven - all on equal terms because of Jesus.
Prayers are answered simply because we believe in Jesus, who He is and what He's done - not who we are or what we've done whether it good or bad. So wrapping up, what I'm really saying is this... Don't fall into that trap of thinking someone else down here is the solution to your problems or the way your prayers will be answered. We should all care and pray for each other but more importantly than getting someone else to pray for you - God wants to hear from YOU. He values YOU. He knows YOU and wants to help YOU. So pray... Prayer is just talking to God. Pour out your heart to Him because He wants to hear from you. Believe He hears you and wait for Him patiently. He will make a way despite how impossible it all looks. What my prayer for you today is this... I'd love to pray for you but more than that - I'd love to pray WITH you believing for what you need God to do. God loves you and it's you that's special to Him.
