A devotional by Mari Madonna

We all can relate to misplacing something that’s important; our credit card, an invitation or worse our wallet. I am great for never knowing where I put my phone or glasses. I have glasses in every room but never seem to know where they may be! Recently, l misplaced the key my neighbor gave me to watch her house while she was away. I thought I knew exactly where I put it. When I found it, it was where I did put it but not in the exact spot I thought.

Prayer can be like this too. We know it’s important, very important! In fact it is vitally important for a close relationship with the LORD…and yet stuff gets in the way and before you know it we’ve misplaced the most important gift we have after our salvation. We regroup and begin to make a plan. We will get up earlier, go to bed later, walk and pray, watch less TV or pray on the way to work. We determine that we will carve out time to pray and make it a priority.

If we’re honest we’ve all been there. Prayer is hard work and keeping it a priority is difficult. Busy lives give way to quick prayers at the beginning and end of the day or Sunday mornings at church. We thank God for our meals, a need may come to mind and we offer a quick prayer. Before you know it the blessings we felt when we pray seem distant. Could it be we have misplaced prayer?

It is comforting to know the LORD has this quandary of prayer in His control so we don’t have to lose heart. He has all the answers we need when prayer can be a struggle. satan hates when we pray, he knows the Great King of heaven hears His children and will respond; he will use anything to keep us from it. BUT GOD…He has given us everything we need pertaining to life and Godliness.

So, I got to thinking about prayer and these are some thoughts the LORD gave me.

My first thought was how many times is prayer mentioned in the Bible? I took my Strong’s Concordance and counted. A fun way to spend an evening! 580 times.  Then Google; can’t leave that out!  There are 650 prayers in the Bible…no, I didn’tt count this one; 25 are prayers of Jesus… AND there are 8 types of prayers!

All this is nice to know but what’s most important to me is what You say, God, about prayer. Why am I so convinced that after my salvation prayer is the most important gift You gave me?  Some Scripture which gave me some answers.

Genesis 4:26 “Men began to call on the Name of God.”  We have no record of what was said but they knew God had a Name and they could call to Him.  What comfort this gives me. He is available and I can call on His Name.

Psalm 34:15 “The eyes of Jehovah are towards the righteous and His ears are opened to their cries.” Wow God’s eyes see me…He cares as He listens to my cries.

Psalm 116:2 “Because He bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath.” I love the picture of the Almighty bending down, a concerned Papa to hear His daughter! It shows me I am valuable to Him, loved and this gives me the desire to pray…not just for a moment but continually.

John 17…I have revealed Your Name to those You gave me…vs. 6, I pray for them….vs.9, Protect them by Your Name that You have given Me so they may be one as We are One…vs12 and my favorite…SANCTIFY them in TRUTH; THY word is TRUTH. vs17.

So many things this passage give me hope to grab hold of as I think of prayer. I know His Name; Jesus is praying for me; I am protected not just by anyone, but the I AM! The LORD of all creation is protecting me.  All of us can be one (united) as He is, and the BEST…I am Sanctified in some amazing way! The Holiness HE has is mine!  I cannot even take this in BUT I believe it.

Some other thoughts, quickly. How Blessed am I as I read those great prayers of the saints who have gone before; Hannah, David’s prayer in 2 Sam 7; the Psalms, one big prayer book and who could forget Daniel 9 or the prayers told about in Acts. They devoted themselves to prayer and then there’s the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus Himself. Finally, I think of Hebrews 4:16 and the encouraging words of the writer of Hebrews. This one special for me to pray boldly to encourage loved ones of prodigals. “Let us come BOLDLY to the Throne of our Gracious God. THERE we will receive mercy and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”

Jesus provided an open door policy for you and me when He declared, “It is Finished”…done! The curtain was torn and we were able to enter the Holy of Holies.  We can enter the Throne Room, lay it all down, no matter the what and do it Boldly! God has so much to teach us when it comes to prayer so in reality; it never really is misplaced but right where we left it.

As we come to the National Day of Prayer I hope you will join us. How amazing is it that one day a year an entire nation can pray and all the above plus so much more becomes available to us from the All Powerful Sovereign LORD who holds us, turns His ear toward us, sanctifies us and died for us!

Prayer truly is the greatest gift after Jesus!

TO GOD BE THE GLORY!

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