All I Can Do Is Pray

     Blog #10

      Having faith when times are difficult is a choice. On a daily basis, I want to choose faith; just like I choose love, joy, kindness and mercy. Some aspects of my own life can be hard and depressing at times and I need faith.  Do I choose faith? Do I pray a prayer of faith? Does prayer have any power?

       I have a dear friend who is very sick. I pray that God will heal her.  I feel incredibly sad and helpless when I think of her situation. I want to give her lots of love and support.  It seems that all I can do is pray! 

       The way I am thinking and speaking sounds like prayer is a last ditch effort, a futile ritual that means little.  How wrong this approach is!  Prayer can be a bold, powerful, joyful choice: the choice of coming to the God of the Universe with a request.  It is a choice to believe and have hope.  It is a choice to trust in God and His written word! It is a choice to remember that He has the power to grant our requests immediately, if He so chooses.  He also has the power to refuse us or ask us to wait.  This He does for our own good.  Prayer is a choice to believe that our Creator will actually listen to us and consider what we ask.  He can even change His mind or be stirred to action, because we ask. 

       Saying “all I can do is pray” sounds like I will “put in” a few minutes of time on my knees, because I said I would or think I should , not really knowing what, if anything, will happen. These words almost imply a lack of faith. 

       I should be saying, “I can ask and I can pray.”  This is not a lame, impotent gesture.  Prayer is the most powerful thing that anyone in the universe can do.  It is going to the Top, the Father, the King, and the Emperor of the world.  It is asking Him humbly, because I am nothing, but confidently and boldly, because He is so powerful.  It is understanding that He rewards those who make the time and the effort to find Him. It is an honor to come to God and know that He hears me! 

      If I had an urgent problem of extreme national importance to discuss with the President of the United States and he was coming to my house today to listen to me, I would not be saying with futility, “I guess, I will ask. He will probably say, ‘No’, but at least I can ask. All I can do is ask!”  Instead, I would choose to act confidently and competently, knowing that the President came out of his way to hear me and that he had the power to do what I asked.

      When I pray confidently, the Creator of the Universe has, in fact, come to my home and I have his attention.  He has the power to do what I ask and He will do what I ask (if it is according to His will). He is not dubious or wishy-washy, like I can be.  Besides having the greatest title, the greatest wealth and the greatest power, he has given me a special relationship with Him that makes Him want to grant my requests.  He is my Father!  I can ask, I can pray and He will hear me! “All I can do is pray” is no small thing!