If you could ask God for one miracle in your life, knowing that He would grant your request, would you ask him;
- to put your marriage back together?
- to change something about your job?
- to bring home a straying son or daughter?
- to heal your body?
- to straighten out your finances?
- to bring a loved one to Christ?
Whatever your request might be, do you regularly and diligently, every single day, bring it to God in prayer, trusting that he will intervene in your situation? If not, why not?
Most of us have to admit that we don’t pray often about our deepest needs. We get faint-hearted . We begin to pray, but we soon find our minds wandering, and we realize we’re using empty phrases. Our words sound hollow and shallow, and we feel hypocritical. Soon we give up. It seems better to live with almost any difficult situation than to continue to pray ineffectively.
We reach out to God, because we know he is holding out loving arms toward us. But then we often fall back and try to face our difficulties in our own power, because at some basic and perhaps unconscious level we doubt if God really can make a difference in the problems we are facing.
God is able – the Bible repeats the words over and over. Able to save three of His followers from a fiery furnace (Daniel 3:17). Able to save Daniel from the lion’s mouths (Daniel 6:20-22). Able to give a child to ninety-year old Sarah (Romans 4:18-21). Able to give His followers all that they need (2 Corinthians 9:8). Able to save completely those who come to Him through Jesus (Hebrews 7:25). “Able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20)
“Come into my presence,” says God. “Talk to me. Share all your concerns. I’m Keenly interested in you, because I’m your Father. I’m able to help, because all power in heaven and earth is mine. And I’m listening very closely, hoping I will hear your voice.”
The above is an excerpt from a book by author Bill Hybels titled, Too Busy Not to Pray.