How Do You View Prayer?

Yesterday Sheryl at The Perch linked to a post written about prayer.  It was written by a lady named Laura who has had to deal with much grief in her life.  It is an amazing, eye-opening, heart-rendering post. It made me re-evaluate how I pray and the requests I make before my Lord.   Here is the link.  Please take time to read this. I believe it will touch you deeply and help you in your walk with the Lord.  

 

Here are my reactions and feelings...

I have always known that the Lord was concerned with my soul. This concept isn't new to me, but what struck me was the idea that he is far more concerned with the condition of my soul than he is with the condition of my physical body. 

"As Nancy Guthrie (the author quoted by Laura) said, '...God cares more about our spiritual health than our physical health. Our bodies are going to die. Our souls are going to live forever.' "

I don't think though, that this means the Lord doesn't want us to pour our hearts out to Him.  I believe he wants us to bring our requests to Him. However, if our hearts and souls aren't truly aligned with His, our requests will be shallow and centered only on what we desire for ourselves.

Another portion of her post that opened my eyes was this paragraph-

"This reminded me of what I had read in Crazy Love by Francis Chan. He asked something along the lines of (and just paraphrasing here from memory) 'what if heaven was you and all those you loved, healed, no pain, no problems, just parties and fun and joy and love. But no Christ. Would that be ok with you?' "

My first thought upon reading this was, "that wouldn't be so bad". Then I was immediately shocked that I could even think that way. I know, though, why I felt that way.  Honestly, it sounds good at first. No pain or sorrow, just joy, love and peace with those I love.  But, the wonderful thing about this quote it that it got me thinking, really pondering on the concept of Heaven without Christ. How could I be happy there?  Jesus is my ultimate friend.  He has blessed me with my family and friends. He has blessed me beyond words. He loves me like nobody else can. He is love, joy, peace and comfort. He is Heaven.

My outlook on prayer has changed. I will be focusing more on praying that my soul will cleave to my Savior's. That I will desire his will for my life even if it means physical discomfort or death. It is a hard concept to wrap my mind around and I haven't fully come to terms with it yet.  However, I will be starting with small steps, asking for help from the Lord, as He guides me down the path He has set before me.