DAY 6 - PRAYER AS OUR FIRST RESORT
Connor Grim, Associate Pastor & Volunteer Team Lead
“Since we have this confidence, we can also have great boldness before him, for if we ask anything agreeable to his will, he will hear us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we also know that we have obtained the requests we ask of him.” 1 John 5:14-15
In my 31 years of being alive and my 13 odd years of being a follower of Jesus, prayer has always been an area of struggle for me. Sure, I’ll occasionally toss-up the ole “guide my day” and I’d never even think of eating dinner without making sure God has blessed it. But when it comes to praying...like actually praying...I guess for a while I’ve always sort of seen it as a last resort.
It’s funny to me because the older I get the more I see how prayer has paved the way in my life. Not only the prayers that I pray and see God come through on, but there have been multiple moments where I’ve felt the Holy Spirit tell me how a door that I’m walking through in my life is opening because it was prayed for by my grandparents or my parents. It’s really powerful and really humbling. But time and time again I find myself making prayer my “last resort.” Which is foolish really when over and over we read how that when we pray God hears us, responds to us and encourages us to ask and ask and ask until we see something happen.
Recently I’ve been reading a book called Dangerous Prayers by Craig Grocshel and it has changed my life. It’s centered on 3 short prayers (just the way I like them) that when prayed with a genuine heart, have the potential to change the trajectory of your life. But more than anything, it’s given me boldness to know that I can pray with confidence, knowing that God hears me and actively responds EVERY SINGLE TIME (even if it’s a no or a not yet).
The more I realize the power in our prayers the more I’m encouraged to make prayer my first resort, not my last. Prayer really does pave the way for things we might not receive or experience, simply because we were too timid to ask.
So today, put down your phone. Pause The Office (the only show you should be watching in quarantine) and make prayer your first priority. Make it your first resort instead of your last. “Get ahead” so to say in your prayer life. Pray for the current situation in our world. Pray for your future. Pray for your dreams. Pray over your fears and watch peace set in. Pray. And know that God hears you and is moving on your behalf!