Prayers of the People

 

          My friend made me laugh recently when she described her ‘picture’ of prayers being lifted up to heaven.  Her visual included filing cabinets with prayers meticulously filed with owner and date, along with when God is, or already has answered it.  Finally a big stamp of “Answered!” was printed in bold lettering, on those taken care of.  

I laughed because her description was very similar to my own!  I know God  hears and responds to every prayer, cry for help, great desire, terrible longing, tear that has fallen and heartache that has ever occurred to me.  

But Revelation 5:8 paints a different picture.  Here John tells of golden bowls filled with incense, which ‘are the prayers of the saints’.  I’m not sure it ever occurred to me that God keeps our prayers.  I know God fills a bottle with our tears, so I’m not sure why this idea of kept prayers didn’t!

There is reassurance in knowing that God is always on time; even when His timeline doesn’t match ours.  Some have prayed the same prayer for decades.  Even personally, the prayers for salvation for a lost loved one has fallen in this category.  Even with the apparent delay, I can’t stop praying that a heart will be changed.

I know we all make choices and they aren’t always the right ones.  But recognizing the choice of letting God have control is the right one, can be very challenging when we don’t see results.  Our world and culture demand ‘instant gratification’.  God doesn’t work that way.  He works for the good of all involved--at just the right time.  

Sometimes there’s a delay because all the pieces aren’t in place for the best possible outcome.  It might be delayed because we need to learn something first, or our direction is skewed. Other times it’s just the wrong prayer, or a wrong motive.  And sometimes a ‘non-answer’ is an answer.  God does say no, sometimes.  That’s hard to grasp at the time of our heartfelt prayer.  But when we look at a ‘no’ from a parental perspective we can see even that, when it occurs, is in our best interest.

But how do we pray as a nation; as a ‘whole people’?  Our nation is struggling  with so many non-Biblical beliefs and behaviors taking root by the day--perhaps even the moment, that it can make our heads spin!  Can we sit back and not respond as Believers?  I don’t believe so.  The more acclimated and tolerant we become, we find ourselves desensitized to the evils swirling all around us, and our ability to stay faithful becomes fragile.

We need to be on our knees before God, praying that in the midst of all the turmoil and workings of Satan, we can stand strong; and encourage other Believers, while having the ‘gumption’ to counteract verbally, when we see something that goes against God.

If we don’t stay in touch with God, Satan will get in touch with us.  His ways are so subtle we often miss it.  It’s so important to be in prayer with all Believers that God will have his way with the world, even if it be through evil people (and he’s been known to do that!); because his return will be soon!  All prophesy has been fulfilled to precipitate this.  If we cave to Satan’s cunning, we give him another ‘toehold’.  

Pray, my fellow Believers!  Pray that we can stay strong and faithful, and that God can use each of us in this upside down and inside out, skewed world we live in, while we wait for Christ’s return.

Photo Credit;  https://www.dreamstime.com/photos-images/christians-praying-together.html