The Truth About Prayer

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by Suzanne D. Williams

Little Johnny’s excitement couldn’t be contained. Christmas was just around the corner, and he has his list prepared. Flying out of his bedroom, he latches onto his dad and the list of his desires spills out. 

“I want this and that and the thing Bobby has.” Without taking a breath, he goes on and on. 

Poor Dad can’t keep up. 

Or how about this scenario? Every day at precisely 2 p.m., Angelina calls her mom and recites what she’s bringing for the family BBQ on Saturday. 

“Baked beans, coleslaw, and Grandma’s pound cake. I love you,” she says at the end. 

Her mom tries to get a word in. “Sweetheart? How was your day?” 

But it’s too late. Angelina has hung up.  

Sadly, we approach prayer the same way. 

“Hold up. I have two minutes before I leave for work. Okay, God. I need that promotion, and remember, my little toe hurts. Oh, and there’s that bill due Friday.” 

Instead, prayer should be a never-ending dialogue with heaven, and listening is part of the conversation. Plus, here’s the thing, 99.9% of the time, God is speaking in a soft voice. (1Ki 19:12That’s a good thing. You don’t want to be so hard of hearing you make God shout.  

God desires our prayers because He wants to have a relationship with us. He wants to spend time together. Not a rushed time when our mind and heart are somewhere else, but time we deliberately made because He loves us, and we love HimAnd we desire it. (Ps 1:2; Ps 37:4) 

God has also designed prayer for us to help others. Job was healed when he prayed for his friends. (Job 42:10) 

“Suzanne, can you pray for my sonHe isn’t feeling well.” 

If you ask me to pray, I will always do it. Because in the past, I needed prayer, major prayer, and people stopped what they were doing to speak to God for me.  

One day, God asked me a sobering question. “Would you set apart a day to pray for your enemies?” 

Gosh, I cant do that,” you say. 

But if someone doesn’t do it, then that enemy will continue to be a problem, and also, newsflash, God loves the whole world. It could be your prayer will place someone in their path to change their heart or, at the least, move them out of the way. (Jn 3:16; Mt 5:44) 

Prayer is preparation. It protects and prospers things in the future. (Jn 16:13It isn’t always meant to be for some problem right now, today. But if we pray, there are things we will not have to deal with tomorrow. 

I pray over my books. I pray for my readers. I pray for my husband’s employer. I pray for wisdom, so that when I’m faced with decisions tomorrow, I will hear the answer.  

And, that’s a key. I listen to hear them. Prayer isn’t a one-way street.  

“Okay, God, on Thursday I need you to reach down and rearrange this for me.” 

No, prayer requires faith, and faith requires action, and most of the time, that action is ours to make. So pray, but adopt a new attitude of prayer, and if that seems hard for you, then ask God to help change your attitude.  

That is one prayer, He loves to answer.

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About the Author:

Suzanne D. WilliamsBest-selling author, Suzanne D. Williams, is a native Floridian, wife, mother, and photographer. She is the author of both nonfiction and fiction books. She writes devotionals and instructional articles for various blogs. She also does graphic design for self-publishing authors. She is co-founder of THE EDGE.

To learn more about what she’s doing and check out her extensive catalog of stories, visit www.feelgoodromance.com or link with her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/suzannedwilliamsauthor or on Twitter at @SDWAuthor

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