2020 as a year of discontent in so many ways has underscored just how important it is to have someone to talk with when things are rough. Being seen, heard, and valued is a fundamental longing we all experience and one of the primary ways those needs are met is when someone shows how much they care by simply being there. It's most often not what that person says that makes the difference, but just that he's there. You know he's there, you know he cares, you know he wants to somehow share the burden and see you move through the valley to get to that sun-soaked ridge on the other side. That really can lift you up in the throes of anxiety and discouragement, can't it?
That's been my experience with prayer. Prayer is talking with God. Of course, that involves the belief that God is there and that he cares. He is not just a concept or a being far away but someone who is with and even within me, which enables him to feel my pain. And my experience continues to be that he then actually provides relief. Not that the hurt, concern, and disappointment just vaporizes into a mist of technicolored glory, but that I become better able to manage my response to what is vexing me and then go out to bless someone else.
Prayer calms
Prayer mobilizes
Prayer clarifies focus
Prayer humbles
Prayer reorders
Prayer makes room for experiences of the transcendent
Prayer lets God in and allows him to move in places only he can access
Prayer changes things
Prayer changes you
Doubt your doubts that this is true and that you can experience this as well. Peace to you, my friend.
Bible verses quoted in this episode:
"Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death." Hebrews 2:14-15
"For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'" Acts 17:28
"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God." 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
"Does he who fashioned the ear not hear? Does he who formed the eye not see? When I said, 'My foot is slipping,' your unfailing love, LORD, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy. The LORD has become my fortress, and my God the rock in whom I take refuge." Psalm 94:9,18-19,22
Attributions:
“Feel A way” by Bizzle.
https://soundcloud.com/gomrecords-1
https://bizzleakalavyss.bandcamp.com
“After Tomorrow” from the album “In-between” by Arovane, Hior Chronik.
https://soundcloud.com/arovane-1
https://soundcloud.com/hiorchronik
https://hiorchronik.bandcamp.com
“Glass Curtain” from the album "Domicile" by Helios.
