Like many of you, prayer is an important part of my life.  It gives me hope. peace and solace. I set aside a specific time each day for prayer, but I find myself praying at other times too, as things pop into my mind. For example, each time I think of my mother who is suffering from dementia, I pray for peace and comfort for her as that is all I can do to help her at this point in her life.

As I have gotten older, I find my prayers are a bit more “mature” for lack of a better word.  When I was a child, I prayed, but it was mostly rote prayers to bless my loved ones before I went to sleep. I also prayed for material things, for my favorite sports teams to win their games or for myself to win some competition in which I was involved. It did dawn on me that others might be praying for their teams or themselves to win their competitions too. I would then wonder which of us would “be chosen” to have our prayers answered and continued to pray anyway.

I treated God like Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy or a genie whom would grant my prayers (wishes) if I prayed hard enough and of course was disappointed when “my wishes” didn’t come true. But that is not how God works. God may give you a “no” or a “wait”, certainly not the answer we want at that time.

When Jesus said in John 14: 13-14, You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask for anything in my name and I will do it!  He did not mean He would give you all the material, sports and competition related things you requested. This verse is often taken out of context. Instead, we should make sure our desires align with God’s desires for us as He alone knows what we need and what is best for us. When that happens,  we can ask for anything in His name because it will be His desire and His will for us.

We should pray and ask God to place His desires in our heart so we will know what He wants for us and then we have to listen! God loves us unconditionally and He knows what we need. Thanks be to God.

Patty