18 Jan Pray First
Have you ever gotten a phone call that changed your entire day? It was bad news. Then to top it off it feels like everything is unraveling around you as you try to continue on with your daily routine. You begin to feel hopeless and overwhelmed. May I suggest, pray first. Even before you call a friend or family member to discuss it. I have learned so many times that if I stop and pray it changes my heart and mind about my circumstance immediately.
Through the Holy Spirit we are made righteous. Spending time with the Holy Spirit is the only way that we can be healed and anchor our hearts in peace no matter our circumstances. We are able to forgive ourselves and others. But is it really that easy? I think sometimes we think it is in one prayer or a couple of prayers and then if nothing has changed on our own time line we give up.
It is that easy but we have to set aside the time to spend with our relational God and trust him with all of our hearts that his promises are true for every circumstance we face. He is drawing us closer to him through prayer to bring us to completion in a loving covenant relationship. I exercised my belief muscle one day when I lost an earring my mom had given to me before she passed away. I could not trace back to when and where I could have lost it. So before I freaked out, I stopped and prayed.
God knew how much they meant to me, so I prayed that he would help me find it. I put the earring I had in my possession on my bathroom counter and every time I looked at it, it reminded me to pray and thank God for helping me find the other earring. I was believing against all odds and prayed without ceasing. After 3 or 4 weeks I was in our family room and I looked down to see the earring in my shag rug. I had vacuumed that rug at least 7 times during that time. There is no prayer too big or too small to witness the incredible grace from our Lord.
If we continue to pray first, keep praying, and keep believing God’s word he will continue to show us love and hope in ways that are miraculous and that heal our hearts. Here are some of my favorite scriptures on prayer. I pray that they encourage you to never stop seeking the one who loves you most.
John 15:7 “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
1 Thessalonians 5:17 “Pray without ceasing.”
Mark 11:24 “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
James 5:16 “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”
Luke 11:9 “And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”
Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not know.”
Luke 18:1 “And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.”
Photo cred: my sweet husband, Erik