How Can Prayer Bring Hope in a Lost World?

To pray, or not to pray? Are my prayers empty words spoken verbally or silently prayed in my mind? Where do they go? Does God actually hear them? Why didn't he answer my prayers? What can God do for me? I am a lost cause.

If he is a loving God and wants me to be happy, why does it feel like he ignores my years of going to church and prayer? I tithe and frequently perform acts of service to God within my church and in my community and yet it seems as though my prayers fall on deaf ears.

We may be guilty of saying or thinking any of these statements. The journey of faith with God is not a straight path. Prayers aren't wishes waiting to be granted by a genie, God is holy and righteous and while he does want us to be happy, it starts with us.

What is our knowledge and understanding of God, who he is, how he works, and what he can and wants to do for us. Do we allow him to work tranformatively in our lives or are we too grief stricken by trials and hardships in our lives, past and present, to allow him into our world? Did we harden our hearts toward him?

We must ask ourselves, how can we honestly be upset with God and hold resentment towards our loving Creator when WE chose on our own free will the relationships, situations we place ourselves in, marriages, and jobs we enter into, all without consulting HIM FIRST.

We must examine our hearts and minds and question our motivations behind our prayers, worhiping, and acts of service to God, to determine if they are based on our own desires for answered prayers only or do we seek to serve God and bring him glory despite the outcome of our prayers? It's easy to give thanks, praise and acknowledge God during the good times in our lives such as welcoming a new baby or new marriage or job that we really wanted and anytime our life is "going good".

But what about during the trials of life? When disease strikes us or our loved ones, grief consumes us by loved ones gone too soon, or our own failures consume us with feelings of inadequacy and we feel both helpless and hopeless. THIS is when we need GOD the MOST. This is when we PRAISE GOD the most. Praising GOD during the storms of life is the highest form of praise as it takes alot of FAITH to do so.

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen-Hebrews 11:1-2. Faith is necessary for prayer. It's like having a car with no gas. It simply cannot go anywhere without the necessary means (the gas) to take it where it needs to go. In the same way, our faith is the vehicle that drives our prayer. We constantly need gas to 'fill the tank' to get us where we need to go. Sometimes it's just down the street so we can make it on a quarter tank, but sometimes we need a full tank of gas to make that long haul destination.

Prayer works the same way. The question is, are you filling your vehicle up correctly according to the destination you are seeking? Yes, gas is expensive, and so will be the cost in time you spend in prayer for your healing destination as it will require time with God in prayer. Sound boring? Nothing could be farther from the truth! This is when God will begin to heal you with his amazing love, grace, and mercy!

Once you start to wholeheartedly pray to God, you open up the door to your vehicle (heart and mind). As you consistently pray, and honestly seek a relationship with God through Jesus, you will notice your vehicle will become lighter. Lighter because you're slowly letting go (releasing through prayer) all the bad luggage you've been carrying around (through trusting God and God's word by reading scripture in the bible, & believing in his promises) bad company you've been entertaining during those car rides, you'll even notice you may change the radio or listen to different music-all because you are allowing God to come into your life and transform your heart and mind.

Here comes the hard part, the surrender. We must surrender our sins and past traumas or current troubles to God. How can we receive with open arms the blessings (joy, peace, comfort, love just to name a few) he has in store for us when we're holding onto the pain and sorrow from the deaths of loved ones, divorces, addictions, betrayals, miscarriages, failed relationships, failed careers and the trials of life? Worse yet, we may even curse God for 'allowing' these things to happen and take place in our lives.

If we harbor this emotional baggage it allows for resentment and unforgiveness to settle in our hearts. Our hearts will harden, and we will no longer feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Without the conviction of the Holy Spirit, it provides a false justification that, "people get what they deserve" or worse, we take justice into our own hands. We know that the bible teaches us that taking justice and getting revenge is wrong as justice belongs to GOD.

All too often we hold onto the pain of past and current situations, experiences, and relationships, as that's what's familiar, that's where we're comfortable sadly. We ruminate in our thoughts, the situations and conversations, to find out the "why's", instead of accepting that we may never know why. Have you ever heard the expression, "rejection is God's redirection?" We must ackowledge that God knows the why's of our lives and put our trust in Him fully. Only then, will He make our path straight on the road to healing. As we continue to seek God, we will experience his healing power and truly release the burdens that hold us to our grievances.

God wants us to let it all go. Whatever we are holding on to so tightly, we swore we wouldn't let anybody or anything else hurt our heart. God is saying it's okay to surrender it all to him. He is a loving, kind, gentle and merciful Father. He's already paid the wage for sin and death by sending Jesus, our intercessor and whose blood on the cross is the atonement for our sins. He wants to give us his loving comfort and peace.

All we have to do is walk in faith through this journey of life in healing with him, not just sometimes, ALL the time. It's important we consistently seek Good through Jesus in prayer, reading our bibles and applying those principles to our lives so we are not tempted to return to our sin. God gave us a spirit of FAITH, not FEAR. It can be frightening to let go, the burdens we've been carrying for so long feels as if we're loosing a part of us, albeit it's darkness consumes us.

We have to be WILLING to let go. Let all the pain and hurt from the past go, all the abuse and every form of it (physical, psychological, emotional) the violence, manipulation, greed, malice, generational traumas of our childhoods, all of the betrayals, rejections, loss of a loved one, and endless stress and anxieties of everyday living.

It's no wonder then that mental health is at the forefront of our healthcare crisis. Yes it is easier said than done but it is all the more reason why we must actively choose to pray daily, spend time talking with God, and consciously walking with God in FAITH, putting his words (scriptures in the bible) into action in our daily lives.

REST ASSURED that WITH GOD, fervent prayer, fasting, worshiping and serving the kingdom of God (doing acts of kindness & good service to others with good and pure intentions/heart), WE WILL OVERCOME our struggles, and our pain. We are not defined by our past. We WILL NOT listen to the deception and the LIES of the devil that we are not worth it, that God doesn't love us, that we aren't forgiven, because WE ARE FORGIVEN for ALL of our sins, PAST and PRESENT.

We have HOPE in JESUS. We have eternal spiritual LIFE IN JESUS. When we walk WITH JESUS, have FAITH and TRUST IN JESUS, He makes us new, he takes our pain and renews our hearts that were once hardened. He gives us peace that surpasses ALL understanding, JOY that fills the very spaces in our heart and minds that were once burdened by grief, sorrow and loss in all aspects of life. If you have these things that only God can give through a personal relationship with Jesus, it is ALL you need and you will feel FREE!!

Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me"-John 14:6

Seek Jesus NOW! God Bless You on your Hope and Healing Journey with Jesus!