Discovering the Power of Prayer

Our prayers may be awkward, our attempts may be feeble. But since the power of prayer is in the One who hears it and not in the one who says it, our prayers do make a difference. - Max Lucado

BAM! I slammed my Bible shut and tossed it across the table. In frustration, my face pointing upward to the ceiling, I screamed "Why do you promise healing and restoration when it never comes!" For then next several minutes I sat, crumpled in a heap at my dining room table, tears running down my face, desperately seeking some comfort to the anguish that I was feeling.

---

Do you share more of your life on social media, then you do with God?

---

After several minutes I began to pray. This was not a prayer of humility or contrition. Oh no, this was a spoiled teenager, "I want things my way right now!" kind of prayer. I began demanding that God prove His promises to me. I wanted answers and solutions and I wanted them now!

Now in all honesty, patience has never been my strong point. I am not one to wait around for things to happen, I am a "why wait when I can just do it myself" kind of person. But this, this was different. I couldn't fix my own hurt, I couldn't just make it go away. I could do the work to prepare for the healing and restoration, but I had to trust in God's timing for it to happen. Again, patience is not my virtue, I wanted an instant fix, but God had other plans.

This breakdown at my kitchen table occurred a little over 6 months ago, and I would love to report that God met all my demands and gave me the instant fix that I so desperately wanted. But that is not at all the case. In fact my low got lower, way lower, before it ever got better. My prayer was for instant relief from the pain that I felt, but that would have only put a patch on the real problems, and buried them away even deeper instead of taking the time to deal with them once and for all.

As I sat at that table in my defiant prayer, demanding that God take away the hurt and the emptiness that I felt, I didn't realize that I was praying a bold prayer. My attitude seriously needed an adjustment, but the courage to tell God what I really wanted was there.

I am a people pleaser by nature, so even when I pray, I always feel like a burden to God. I will only ask for a little bit of what I want or need because in my arrogance I either believe that I can just do it myself, that I'm not important enough, or my need isn't big enough to bother God with. My prayers will include the needs of everyone else in my life, my sphere of influence or the world, but rarely my own needs, hurts or desires.

Friends, we need to SUPERADD prayer into our lives. Get out of our own ways, drop the insecurity and just give it all to God.

So here is a question for all of us to ponder: "Do you share more about your life on social media, then you do with God?

If the answer is yes, then it is time to add SUPERADD, bold prayers into your life. We should be sharing every part of ourselves and our lives with our Creator.

Do you share more of your hurts, frustrations, goals and desires with your best friend then you do with God?

If yes, then it's time to ask ourselves why is it easier to talk to others then to take it to God?

God knows all of it, but He is waiting for you to share it with Him. Imagine sharing everything with God. What would that look like? What impact would that have in your life? Would your relationship with God be better because of it?

What if you had the bold courage to ask for more in your life? More joy, stronger relationships, success in your job, your marriage, a better understanding of God and a closer relationship with Him? What if God was the first place we turned instead of the last?

In a world where our every whim is available at the touch of a button and instant gratification is everywhere, waiting for answers to prayer can be difficult for us. We have an idea in our heads of how everything is supposed to work out but our ways are not God's ways. Our answers to prayer might not happen in any way that we could have imagined. Most likely it will be totally different and way better then we could have ever guessed but we have to be willing to trust in God's sovereignty and in His timing.

If there is one thing that I have learned over the past 6 months, it is that prayer is not an instant fix! God is not a genie in a lamp that we can make our wish and POOF everything is just the way we want it. In Matthew 7:7 the Bible says "Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find". This doesn't mean that just because we ask God for it that it is going to be given to us in the way that we think we need it.

But, what I have discovered is that when I demanded that God "take away my pain" that He knew exactly what I needed to truly make that happen. If I hadn't gotten to the point of being so low, that I struggled to get out of bed, to find a purpose and to keep fighting, then I never would have had the need to truly deal with the pain that was holding me back. I never would have found the freedom from my past that I am slowly finding. But most of all I wouldn't have developed the trust in God that I now have.

Do you want freedom from the things that are holding you back? There is no room for God to add the good things until you let go of the bad. When I prayed that God would take away my pain, let me tell you I was not ready for the journey that was ahead of me. There were days, and memories and situations where I felt like it was getting worse not better. When anxiety crippled me, and fear kept me from finding rest, I struggled to see God's hand in any of it.

But God was right there in all of it. Every awful memory that I relived, was God subtracting the bad and making room for the SUPERADDED, abundant, amazing life that He is creating for me. I just have to be willing to trust in the process and trust in Him.

A very close friend of mine reminds me often that as Christians we are called to die to self. We have to stop trying to fix ourselves, stop waiting for others for others to fill the empty holes in our lives, and stop looking to the things of this world to bring us joy, to fulfill some standard that think we are suppose to meet and we need to surrender it all to Jesus.

Stop giving God accolades and lip service, stop holding back and just lay it on Him. I am in no means suggesting that we go to God demanding what we want, but I am urging you to lay all your cards on the table. Scream out your frustrations, cry out your fears, your pain and the insecurities that you keep hidden away. Be courageous, be bold and be honest. I promise you, God can take it.

This week my challenge to you is to dig deep. Spend some time alone with God and pour it all out to Him. My prayer for you is that you will find the courage to come before God with venerability and honesty and to truly pray from the deepest places of your soul. Be courageous! Let God be your strength and let your guard down.

If you need help learning how to pray then I encourage you to begin reading through the book of Psalms. Psalms is filled with prayer after prayer of David pouring out his heart to God. When David felt alone, he gave it to God. When he was thankful, he praised God for all His goodness. And when he knew that he had done wrong, he begged God for forgiveness. Just about every prayer you can imagine, David prayed it.

A SUPERADDED life begins and ends with SUPERADDED prayer!