Hello, my dear readers and fellow bloggers. After being sick for a week, and playing catch up the next, I haven't had time to blog, but I HAVE known what I wanted to blog about for the past two Modern Mondays. So let's play catch up!
Have you ever thought about the purpose of prayer? Go ahead. Think about it right now. Why do you pray? What do you pray about? Why don't you write me a list. On one side of the paper, write: "Things I Pray For/About" and on the other side write "Why." I can tell you that my prayers are usually selfish, although it isn't wrong to pray for yourself. Usually, I pray to draw on God's strength for something that I can't handle. Others are half-hearted thank-you's for food or for safety (which is kind of rude, don't you think?). Right now, I want you to look at your list. This isn't about whether your prayer style is right or wrong, or even if what you're praying for is right or wrong. It's about WHY you pray. Why DO you pray?
I think that the most common misconception about prayer is that if you pray hard enough for something, you can convince God to give it to you. But that's not the case! That line of thought isn't even Biblical. Check out Malachi 3:6 and Hebrews 13:8. God is forever the same. He never changes. So what is the point of prayer? If the point of prayer isn't to change God's mind, what does it change? It changes our hearts. The more we talk to God, the closer we get to Him and the more vulnerable we become. In that, we allow our hearts to become softer and God can mold it to fit with His will. Then strangely (or not-so-strangely), our desires and wants change to match what God wants for us! It's a really cool experience. And the more that we talk to God and let Him lead our wants and needs, the more we get to experience His gentle love!
The next peculiar part of Christianity is this. What is being lost? I think that the biggest misconception about needing salvation is that God has lost you. But did you know that He knows where you are and what you're doing right now? For some of you, that might seem scary, but to others, it's extremely comforting! The problem with being "lost" isn't that no one can find you - it's that no one knows where you are...it's that YOU don't know where you are. You don't know in which direction you're going. It's important to recognize that God always knows where you are. He loves you and wants you to come to Him. Don't believe me? Check out Psalm 139 and Luke 15. God wants YOU. He wants to talk to you and hold you and make you feel better and show you how much He loves you every day. Don't deny it. Embrace it. Embrace HIM. (:
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