Heartfelt
Prayer
Empty Prayers
“I put an empty hand on an empty head and said an empty prayer.”
Several years ago, I heard Dick Mills speak. He shared an episode from his life. He had been ministering in a church. He was finished speaking with the people. He was tired, hungry, and he had no energy. As he was walking out the door, a woman approached him for prayer. He then said, “I put an empty hand on an empty head and said an empty prayer.” As he turned to walk away, the lady was healed, right then and there.
That story gives me hope. There are people I have prayed for over several years. Although I have seen shifts in their circumstances or their personalities, I still have not seen a total answer to my prayers. Sometimes, when I am praying, I feel like I am praying “empty prayers.” The requests are the same, but it has been so very long, and I just kind of mouth the words.
Jesus encourages his followers to pray and not give up. “Ask and keep on asking and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking and you will find; knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7 Amplified.
All well and good but when we have asked for so many years, so many decades, what do we do? Even though it seems like sometimes we are praying just “empty prayers,” we should do just what He said. Keep on asking, keep on seeking an answer and keep on knocking til the door is opened.
The true lesson from Dick Mills’ story is this. The ultimate answer from God does not depend on us, it depends on Him. His timing, His reasons, and His way of doing things. So if you are like me and sometimes you feel like you are praying “empty prayers,” take heart. He hears us. He will answer, immediately, eventually or ultimately.
It’s Time
“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
2 Chronicles 7:14
Lost
When our oldest son was about three, we met some friends up at a lake. I was standing on one side of the boat ramp, and my husband and his friend were standing a few feet away on the other side of the ramp. Our son wanted to come over to where I was, and my husband said, “Sure.” He took off, and my hubby just assumed he was with me. He was busy chatting with his friend, and since I was in plain sight, he didn’t give it a second thought.
A few minutes later, my husband came over to where I was and he didn’t have Shawn with him. Shawn had walked right past me and was who knows where. Inside of me, I began to panic. There were lots of people at the lake that day, which only added to my consternation. My friends took off down the path, and I just stood there frozen. I could barely breathe. If something happened to my son, I knew I would not be able to live with myself. Second after second ticked by as I fought back hysteria. Thankfully, a few minutes later, our friends found him following the path along the lake, looking for me. To say I was relieved would be an understatement.
The Lord brought this incident back to my mind recently. When I think about the way I felt about my son being lost, it may, in some small way, reflect how the Lord feels when He looks down at His children and sees so many of them lost. I do not believe the Lord is panicked or hysterical, but the thought of losing them forever must be heart-wrenching. Millions are looking for Him, but because they are on the wrong path, they will never find Him. They will just continue walking until they walk right past Him into a Christless eternity.
Luke 19:10 says: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” That means that if you are lost, if you are looking for some sort of meaning in this life, some sort of God, some sort of something but don’t know what; He is looking for you…right now. He wants you to stop, turn around and look for Him, Jesus, the One who can save your soul and give your life meaning.
He cares for you more than you can ever know and He has no desire for you to spend eternity without Him. He will be crushed to lose you, a precious part of His beloved creation. No matter where you are, what you have done or where your search has taken you, it is not too late to find Him, the One your soul is ultimately looking for. His name is Jesus Christ and He will more than meet you half way. Turn around while you still can, while you’re still safe and while you still have hope.
Photo by Pexels. Courtesy of Pixabay.
Grateful
“GIVE THANKS WITH A GRATEFUL HEART” – song by Don Moen
A few weeks ago, I published a post entitled “Sustained.” I shared how the Lord and the prayers of so many people helped get me through a rough patch in my life. I would be remiss if I did not also thank the many people who contributed to my husband’s recovery and my own survival during such a difficult time.
Again, a special thank you to all who prayed for us in our time of need. Thank you to all who read the recent post and sent a compassionate note. It was interesting that when my husband was taken to the Boise hospital that it just “happened” that one of the finest neurologists in Idaho was on duty. He stayed on my husband’s case until he was certain that the bleeding had stopped in his brain. The nurses and aides were great, every one of them. One doctor in the SICU said, “How is it that your husband always gets the best nurses on every shift?” Another answer to prayer.
The therapists, doctors, nurses and aides at the Rehab hospital also get a great big, “Thank You.” They are the ones that worked several hours a day to get him ready to come home. By the time he came home, he could walk with a walker and do most things for himself. I will always be grateful to them.
And last but not least, our son and daughter-in-law who took me into their home for a month. They rearranged their schedules in order to take me to the hospital and pick me up each day. They were concerned with my every need and shielded me from loving and concerned people who would have overwhelmed me emotionally. How can I ever thank them?
At this time, my husband is doing well. He is much improved and can do most things except drive. Life goes on and I will return to blogging and writing, but I couldn’t move forward until I publicly thanked each and every one of you who helped us during this difficult time.
Sustained
“He shall cover you with His feathers; and under His wings you shall take refuge.” Psalm 91:4
Late in November, my husband had an ischemic stroke. He spent a day in the hospital and we were rejoicing because he had no restrictions and no deficits. It was if it had never happened. The doctor was positive and gave him medication to mitigate any possible further strokes. Great…no problem…or so we thought.
Ten days later, the nightmare began. At 3:00 A.M., he had a hemorrhagic stroke caused by the medicine. He collapsed on the floor of the bathroom and could barely speak. He could not move, and I ran to dial 911. I also called my son at that time. The moments crawled by as I waited for help. I brought him a pillow and held his hand. Finally, the paramedics came and took him to the hospital. My son had arrived by then, and we followed behind.
He went to the first hospital and they took a CT Scan and we were told they did not treat this kind of stroke and we would need to go to the larger hospital downtown. My son brought me home to pack and we went there. In the meantime, I asked him to call my daughter-in-law ask her to put us on the prayer chain at church. Believe me, I was barely holding it together.
My son and I entered my husband’s room as nurses were putting in the IVs. The neurologist arrived soon after and told us that because my husband had two different types of strokes, it would be dicey treating him. Both strokes required different blood pressure levels, and we were in SICU so that he could get the required medicine and be watched carefully. The neurologist took an MRI and told us that we would have to wait until the next day to see if the bleeding in his brain would stop. As he examined my husband, we saw that he could barely talk and he had no feeling on his right side. He could not hold his arm up or his leg for any length of time. It did not seem like the prognosis was great.
However, day by day, we saw improvement. The first day we got the good news that the bleeding had stopped in his brain. We saw from the monitors that they were able to keep his blood pressure in the target range to treat both strokes. After three days without food, a therapist came in to give him a swallow test. He was able to begin to eat food. After six days, he could stand by his bed holding onto a walker. They then transferred him out of SICU to a regular room.
Three days later, he was discharged to a therapy hospital. During that time, he received three hours of therapy; speech, occupational and physical. By the time he left there, he could walk with a walker, and they helped him with simple skills like bathing and dressing himself. Every day, he made a little more progress. Twelve days later, he was released to go home. We stayed at our son and daughter-in-law’s for a week, then we returned to our own home. He continues with therapy two times a week and has gone from using a walker to being able to walk on his own. Every week, we see improvement in his condition. Much of the feeling has returned to his right side.
As difficult as this journey has been, I would not have come through this without the kindness of our son and daughter-in-law, our friends, and the countless prayers of people, many of whom we did not know. There were so many nights when I could not pray. I just stared at the ceiling and felt my own emotional pain. And yet, the Lord sustained me (and my husband) each and every day. He met need after need with His grace as I felt His love and comfort. There is no One like Him and I know I could not have survived this without His sustaining power.
The Eyes of Faith
Have you ever been praying for someone, and you only see them as they are? Maybe they are making a bunch of mistakes. Perhaps they are sabotaging themselves at every turn. Their behavior has made you think of them and react towards them in a certain way. We seem to be locked into seeing them in a negative light and we treat them accordingly.
Perhaps we need to take some time and think about how the Lord would like their lives to be. What would that look like? If we can come up with a positive picture of them in our minds, then perhaps we can pray for them that way. We would be seeing them with the Eyes of Faith. Faith that when God intervenes in their lives, their lives will look much different.
The amazing thing about this is that when we can do that, we begin to treat them differently. We begin to treat them with more respect, and we are not so negative towards them. We speak to them about the possibilities in their lives and try to help them see a different future for themselves.
When they can see themselves in a different light, it helps to dispel their negative self-image and sometimes they can believe in themselves again. People who are caught in a negative cycle of behavior have lost hope in themselves and their actions may become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Is there someone you need to begin to look at with the Eyes of Faith? I know there is in my sphere. Remember the Scriptures say, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.” Hebrews 11:1 Let’s hope for the best and see those caught in a negative spiral with the Eyes of Faith. It just may help change their world.
Image by Daniel Hannah. Courtesy of Pixabay.
Flip the Script
The other evening, I couldn’t sleep. I began to pray for a member of our family who keeps making mistakes over and over. As I prayed for him, I talked with the Lord about the things he kept doing. Eventually, about 1:00 A.M., I fell asleep. The next morning, when I woke up, I was discouraged and didn’t know why. I thought about it and realized that I had been focusing on the mistakes this person kept making. I could see I needed to flip the script.
I then remembered Ruby, a friend of mine, who would say, “Don’t pray the problem!” I looked back at the evening before, and that’s pretty much all I had been doing. So what should I do instead? I prayed about it. The first thing I needed to do was to get my eyes off the person and his problems and place them on the Lord.
I spent that day focusing on the greatness of God and his ability to answer my prayers. After all, He created the universe. He keeps the stars fixed in the heavens and the planets spinning in alignment. Surely, He has the ability to help solve the problems that concern me. Psalm 113: 4-6 says, “The Lord is high above all nations, His glory above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God, Who dwells on high, Who humbles Himself to behold the things that are in the heavens and in the earth?” Clearly, our God has the power to answer our prayers.
That evening, after thinking about the greatness of God, I felt the Lord nudging me to be thankful for the things He had done for me. He reminded me of the time when I could have accidentally killed my brother. He was not even injured after the incident. My entire life would have been ruined had I hurt my brother, but God, in His mercy, prevented that from happening. He also reminded me of the times He protected me during the years when I was not living for Him. Psalm 118: 1-2 says: “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” Surely, I could see how God had been merciful to me and that He would be merciful to my relative.
The last thing I was reminded of is to be careful where I put my faith and focus. The Lord instructs us in His word to believe that He can and will answer our prayers. The disciples had been trying to cast out a demon, and they were unable to. Jesus showed up on the scene and cast it out. The disciples wanted to know why they had failed. In Matthew 17: 20 Jesus answered, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” Again, even though this problem seemed impossible to solve, the Lord was reminding me that nothing is impossible for Him.
So the next time you become discouraged in prayer, flip the script and remember Ruby and her advice, “Don’t pray the problem!” Place your focus on the Lord, His greatness, His mercy, be thankful, and have a little faith in Him. He can do anything!
Photo Courtesy of Pixabay.
The Russian Bear
The Russian Bear has surrounded Ukraine with its arm. It is quickly drawing it into its orbit in order to annex it. How long will the Ukrainians be able to hold him off?
When Hitler began to annex countries into the Third Reich, those that were not well armed did not last long.
Czechoslovakia lasted 24 hours.
Poland held him off for 35 days.
France lasted six weeks.
Norway held the Nazis off for two months.
Please pray for our brothers and sisters in Ukraine. They are brave but not well armed, and every day they are able to stand against the might of the Russian army is a miracle. May God help them.
Image by Hakan Carlander. Courtesy of Pixabay.
Father Knows Best
When I was growing up, there was a weekly television series called “Father Knows Best.” Every week, the mother and kids would deal with a problem. They would wrestle with a solution, and then the father would come home from work. He would listen to the problem and then, in his wisdom, would give them a solution. Whether they liked it or understood the answer, the family would follow the father’s advice, and things would work out. Lately, the title of this sitcom has been on my mind.
I’ve been thinking about all the prayers I prayed as a teenager. They consisted of a lot of desires; the boys I thought I wanted to marry, where I thought I wanted to go to school, where I wanted to live, etc.; typical teenage girl hopes and dreams. Looking back, I am so thankful that my Heavenly Father did not answer those prayers with a “yes.” I certainly didn’t know what I was really asking for, but He did. You see, my Heavenly Father really did know best all those years ago.
As I think through the decades of unanswered prayers, I wonder why there were so many “no” answers. I thought that what I was praying for was a good thing for my life or for the lives of others, but so many of my requests were not answered the way I wanted them to. People divorced, died and lost their homes. Businesses were lost, and loved ones went through a lot of suffering. I can’t even comprehend why my prayers were not answered, and yet by faith I must trust that my Heavenly Father knew best.
My desire would always be to be spared suffering, for myself and those I pray for. In my quest of faith, I must admit that I don’t understand my Father’s allowance of suffering in this world. Why doesn’t he just wave a magic wand and make everything better? I have no answers for any of these questions. I do know a few things, though.
I know I serve a good and loving God. I know that I live in a fallen world where there is suffering as a result of man’s sin. I know that this earth and this life are temporary and that there is an eternal life to come. I freely admit my lack of understanding, but I do trust Him because, after all, I believe that my Heavenly Father knows best.
Image courtesy of Pixabay.
Valerie Cullers 