Prayer is the Precursor~

Inspired by the DEVO originally published 9-19-2013

Happy Thursday to all my precious brothers and sisters in Christ~

The Bible is filled with stories of folks who endured difficulties.  Sometimes it was for a few days, sometimes it was years.  Remember the woman who bled for 12 years? However, Jonah was swallowed by a huge fish and lived through that nightmare, stuck in that smelly belly, for three days.  Three days!  It took a few years for God to answer my prayers about my child’s questionable relationship choices.  My buddy, however, who was no more/no less distraught then me, received her wonderful and life-giving answer within six short days. Oh well. Nevertheless, the timing is not up to me or you but rather God.  

While I am the first to humbly admit that I do not have all the answers, I do see a possible explanation why God has different time frames for His children, and this first occurred to me in 1990. Jorge and I saved up and bought three-year-old Hormone a Power Wheels electric jeep for Christmas that year. Its maximum speed was about five MPH.  However, what about if I would have given Hormone the keys to a brand new full-sized jeep instead?  Trust me, he would have gladly taken them, but it would have been too much too soon and too dangerous. As his parents, Jorge and I knew that Hormone was only ready for a toy car.  

Our heavenly Father giving us what we want when we want it, no matter what, could also be dangerous or at the very least, not in our best interests. I have often said that as difficult as it was seeing my child making the poor choices I mentioned at the beginning of this DEVO, it taught me so much about prayer and keeping the faith. That entire, long, seemingly-interminable season of heartache and anguish pushed me to my knees, and I can now say I am grateful for all I learned.

I want to encourage everyone who is facing a problem today, who is in the smelly belly of the beast of an emotional, physical, relational and/or financial problem, know that you have options. Yes, God controls the timing, "He makes everything beautiful in its time (Ecclesiastes 3:11)," but as you wait on Him, "Ask, and it will be given to you, seek, and you will find, knock, and the door will be opened (Matthew 7:7)."

In Jonah’s case, and in the case of every Biblical story where God shows up and fixes the mess, prayer was a precursor to deliverance.  It doesn't matter if we bring our problems on ourselves through poor choices like Jonah did (see Jonah chapter one).  Or if like the disciples, who found themselves in the middle of a storm because they were following Christ, we are blindsided while minding our business or even doing something good. Either way, the first step we must always take to get out of the mess, is to pray.  Pray when you mess up, pray when someone else messes up, pray when life just happens. P-R-A-Y!

PRAYER: Dear Lord, We always want instant relief. No one likes being in the smelly belly of problems. And sometimes we have to muster up all our faith to trust You while we wait. But Your Word is clear: We must pray before anything else. We must talk it over with You. We must invite You in to do Your thing. There is a divine and amazing blessing that always takes place when we declare our trust in You. Nevertheless, answer our prayers! In Jesus' name, AMEN~