Are you a Christian? Honestly, how many prayers have you prayed that have come true the way you wanted? Those really important prayers where you really need God’s help. You pray and wait… pray and wait… and nothing seems to happen. There may be a reason why…
The first question we should ask ourselves is why does the bible tell us to pray? The primary reason is to develop and maintain a relationship with God. The bible also tells us to pray and ask God for the things we want or need and he will help us. In fact, the bible says:
Mar 11:24 therefore I say to you, Whatever things you desire when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them.
Then why aren’t our prayers answered? The answer is simpler than you might think. How do you pray? Do you pray regularly to God? Or do you just pray when you need something? Do you read the bible? Or do you just read the bible when something is wrong and you need help?
When you pray, do you say meaningless repetitions of the same prayer over and over again?
Keep in mind that God is a person. He’s a spiritual person, an infinite God, but he has a personality, he is not just some cosmic force, he is a person who desires to have a relationship with you all the time, not just when you need something.
Can you imagine talking to your friends like most people talk to God? What if your friends called you once in awhile and said “I need you to do this and that and this and that, goodbye”… would you be inclined to help someone who only called you when they wanted you to do something for them? Or would you want somebody to call you and ramble about the same request for help over and over and over again? No, you wouldn’t. You would want them to say “hello! How are you! I was wondering if you could help me? You would want dialog… you would want a conversation… you would want a relationship!
I’ll bet God gets really bored with prayers from people who never call him for anything else.
When was the last time you prayed to God to thank him for everything? When was the last time you told God you loved him? When was the last time you read the bible simply to learn what God says to people, out of genuine interest? Can you imagine how lonely God must be? Billions of people living on the planet and so few people talk to God out of love, just to say hello and thank you without a prayer request or a need. God knows your needs before you even ask him. That’s not the point, the point is that God is a person who wants to be treated like a person, like your friend, like your brother, like your father, like you love him.
And I think that when we read the bible and talk to God when things are going good and we just say “hello, it’s me again and I just wanted to say thank you and I love you and I am glad you are my God” that would mean something to him.
And I would bet that if we had more of a relationship with him BEFORE we need his help, he would be a lot more inclined to help us. Why? Because he has a relationship with us! We’re his friends! We call and say hello often, like we would any other friend!
So the next time you are praying to God, pray to him like a person, pray to him like a friend, because he is your friend and he loves you. He loves you so much that he died for you. He desires to have a relationship with you.
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Christian Penn
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