10/04/2025
Never stop praying!
Today, all of us have our cell phones set up for various points of personal interest. For some it is a news feed from a number of sources, any form of social media, and now every service, store and restaurant has an app to download to order AND PAY online. (I love my Taco Bell app but that’s another story!)
One of my settings picks up various devotional thoughts and sayings from different contributors. The technology is getting so great that the animation and production of these little six second thoughts are just amazing!
This week, my wife and I have been in a tremendous amount of prayer together for various reasons and for what is going on around us and in the lives of people we know and love so dearly. On Wednesday, I encouraged all our prayer warriors to set aside a few moments at noon for a specific need involving a member of our family struggling with cancer. I imagined the prayers being like thunder as they reached God’s throne of grace. My mind was in awe of the idea of a thousand prayers lifting up to heaven at a specific moment for a specific concern and to watch how God answered that prayer.
My heart this week has been, honestly, in constant prayer. So, it was no surprise to see this feed reach my cell phone Sunday morning:
I asked God for strength and God gave me difficulties to make me stronger.
I asked for wisdom and God gave me problems to solve.
I asked for courage and God gave me dangers to overcome.
I asked for love and God gave me troubled people to help.
My prayers were answered!
2 Corinthians 6:15-18 Paul writes - 15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. 16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
We often expect our prayers to be answered in a nice little box with a pretty bow. God is way to creative for that! God wants us to see, (with confidence) that our inward person is being renewed day in and day out by the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
During unimaginably hard days, let your spiritual eyes come alive and through faith see what eyes alone cannot see … a glorious glimpse of eternity!
Mark
