Pray with Passion

Have you ever thought or said, “I wish God would give me a call (or send me a text or email)” so you could know for sure what He wants you to do? I know I have. But as I have thought about it I am not sure it really makes a big difference.

God knows human beings pretty well and has set up a good system for communicating with us. He has given us the Bible which gives both general and specific information as to what God expects from us. He encourages us to talk to Him (prayer). The more we study what He has said to us (The Bible) and the more passionately we talk to Him (prayer) the more He encourages, reveals, and directs us. He has also given us the Holy Spirit who makes it all work.

One of the things that Pastor Chad pointed out in his sermon about Elijah was that Elijah prayed earnestly, with passion. Even though Elijah was a human being, just like us, he was exceptional in his communication with God which led to miraculous results. And yet, even Elijah was stressed. After all of the direct communication with God, after all the super human events he was directly involved in, Elijah was discouraged and thought he was alone in his fight against evil.

And, by the way, he could have brushed up on his social skills. While we might see some humor in his comments to the widow and the prophets of Baal, many people today would say he could benefit from some sensitivity training. I personally think his taunting of the prophets was not only funny but very much deserved by them as well.

While the brief story about the widow was almost parenthetical it has deep meaning for me since I am the son of a widow. And so, probably not coincidently, I have been led to encourage and assist widows throughout my life. There have been several instances that God has shown His provision for them in ways that I would call miraculous. One involved a lady who had always worked at low paying jobs. She was able to save a small amount of money in an IRA. As she approached age 70 she finally decided she needed to quit working. As we looked at her budget it was obvious that the amount required from the IRA to supplement the small amount of Social Security was only going to last a few years, certainly a lot less than her life expectancy.

[bra_blockquote align=”]the IRA balance was barely decreasing! This went on for over 10 years when the lady became ill and then went to be with her Lord. I later learned from her children that shortly thereafter the downturn in the economy caused her IRA balance to significantly drop, but God had taken care of her.[/bra_blockquote]She was a strong Christian woman with significant faith and a passionate prayer life. We discussed her situation, set up an investment plan for her IRA and automatic payments to her to meet her limited budget. Since I also helped her with her tax return I knew that she gave 20-25% of her already meager income to God’s work—her church, missionaries, needy people, etc. As the years progressed I was amazed as I reflected on her situation—the IRA balance was barely decreasing! This went on for over 10 years when the lady became ill and then went to be with her Lord. I later learned from her children that shortly thereafter the downturn in the economy caused her IRA balance to significantly drop, but God had taken care of her.

So, we should not wait for God to send us an email or text message, we should embrace His communication plan. The more we read/study the Bible we learn how God wants to live our lives. This, coupled with earnest, intent, passionate prayer will put us in harmony with God and confidence in the direction He wants us to go.