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Praying to our Great Creator
By Rory Ries
Many have often wondered if God does answer prayer. Over the years a not so uncommon thought that mankind has had is why should we even bother with praying? Is God involved in your life? Do you want God to be involved in your life? Or do you believe it is just a waste of time? Some have even said it doesn’t matter if you pray or not because as long as you try to be a good person that is the only thing that matters. Is that true?
What is your impression of God? Do you believe there is a God? When you look at all of the beautiful surroundings and the magnificent sky above, do you think this all came about because of a “big bang” theory? How about when you dig in the dirt and you see all of the life in it? Even when you look in the mirror and you see this young person staring back at you, what do you think? This beautiful image you see is made in the image of the great Creator (Genesis 1:26). You are a miracle and a gift God has given to your parents and the world (Psalm 127:3).
Everyone who is reading this is specially made. It wasn’t just by accident you came about. Do you think your birth is like the “big bang theory” where things just happen to run into each other and now we have the universe? That seems to be pretty empty and that way of thinking doesn’t appear to offer much hope as far as having any meaningful future. You were not created by accident or by cells frantically bumping into each other. You are a unique design and you are wonderfully made.
Now stop and think for a moment, if you were wonderfully made by hand and created for a purpose by the only perfect Creator that exists, then wouldn’t you think this Creator would love to have a relationship with His creation? Not only does God want a relationship with His creation, He wants His creation to multiply and produce others that will have the opportunity to be just like the Creator (Genesis 1:28). This is an awesome plan. The Creator loves His creation so much He is willing to share everything with those who are willing to acknowledge He is the Creator (Genesis 1:1).
How do we acknowledge the Creator? God has made it possible for us to communicate with Him. He talks to us through His Word. It is important for us to study His Word daily and to learn more about Him. The other tool He has given us is prayer and when we pray we communicate with God. We have direct access to God because Jesus Christ, the Son of God, gave up his life that we may know who the Creator is (Matthew 27:51). We can walk with God and we can talk to Him at anytime (Genesis 5:22).
The first step is to realize there is a God. When God is working with you He will lead you to Christ (John 6:44). It is the individual’s responsibility to answer to that call. God is opening a door to a way of life that brings about peace, joy and an abundance of love. You are also being offered eternal life (Deuteronomy 28:1; 30:19).
This calling leads us to repentance which leads to baptism (Acts 2:36-39). One of the things we normally repent of is not putting God first in our lives (Exodus 20:3). When we don’t pray and communicate with God, we are allowing other things to take His place and we are looking to the worldly things to comfort us (1 John 2:15-17). Sadly, the worldly things will never replace the peace and joy God can bring about in our lives. That includes love.
The love the world has to offer is temporary and not fulfilling. The love God offers is perfect and it lasts forever (1 John 2:5; 4:18). The worldly matters may bring some happiness, but it is only for a short period of time. God can give you the things you need and they will last for an eternity.
One of the ways we let God know what it is we need is by prayer. There are even times when we don’t need anything and we pray from a grateful heart letting God know how much we do appreciate Him and Christ. There are also times we need to overcome a problem. The challenge may be wearisome and heavy on our hearts. This type of a challenge may take much prayer and fasting (Matthew 17:19-21).
Christ gave us the example of how to pray (Matthew 6:9). We always pray to the Father through Jesus Christ (John 14:13-14). God will answer our prayer and that is something you can hang onto and cherish. The answer may not come in the time we desire but the answer will come. We pray to God on our time and He answers our prayer on His time. His time is always perfect. The answer may be totally different than what we expected, but He will provide us with what we need.
Paul prayed for healing three different times and he felt God did not answer him (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). Yet, God did answer Paul and it was enough for Paul once it became clear to him. Even though the answer was not what Paul was expecting, it still gave him comfort. Paul did not let his trial interfere with the mighty work he had to do.
God knows you and loves you and He will give to you whatever it is you need. What we think we need may be totally different than what God thinks we need. Growth and development comes when we get to know God better and we can start to think just like He thinks. This process doesn’t happen over night and it takes much prayer and fasting as we walk with God.
It may be hard to comprehend having a God who created you and who loves you so much He was willing to give up His only begotten son (John 3:16). God is there and He desires to have a relationship with you. He is waiting to hear from you. Stop what you are doing and just let God know you know He is there and you are thinking about Him. He would love to hear from you. i
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