Thoughts & prayers
The fervent prayers of the righteous “avails much” James 5:16
The Webster dictionary defines effective as-
producing a decided, decisive, or desired effect
or
or
being in effect : OPERATIVE
ie., the tax becomes effective next year
If there is anything I’ve learned since 2020 it’s that I can’t handle too much news.
It robs me of joy, sleep and I sob uncontrollably.
On my birthday May 24, 2022 children were murdered in another school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
Kids.
Beautiful babies.
Shot & killed- intentionally by an 18 year old.
And 2 beautiful teachers -killed…
The gun man too- dead…
My husband was switching between several news channels on 5/24 & I heard a smidgen of this:
“
is preaching on
saying Republicans & some Dems' "thoughts & prayers" are worthless with re: #Uvalde & GunControl
retort "what about a person of faith.."
Bakari: "Faith without works..."
Lemon: "...is dead!"
Amen!”
I couldn’t stomach it. ^^^^
“Thoughts & prayers” Bakari Sellers says “are worthless.”
This is EXACTLY what Satan wants us to believe.
Stop praying & revolt.
Stop praying & act.
Stop praying & force politicians to fix this.
Leave your faith in God out of this.
Taking God OUT of school, out of parental nurturing & discipline out of homes out of 8, 10, 11 year old minds & hearts is such a huge part of this problem.
We’re trying to fix a spiritual problem with political means.
GIVE US A KING!! The people of Israel shouted.
No, Samuel said.
Yahweh is LORD and King.
It is wrong for you to ask for a political leader.
God responds to Samuel “go ahead. give them a king. Anoint a king. For it is really ME they have rejected” (see 1 Samuel Chapter 8)
For me, prayer is like oxygen & I don’t want a politician- I want King Jesus.
My son Isaac had 3 horrific seizures in 2020 that rocked me to the core.
Then brain surgery for my son too… in the same year….
For me, watching my child suffer….thoughts from others did not help me too much…
BUT PRAYERS MEANT EVERYTHING.
Why?
Why is it important to pray when the world crashes around you?
This Texas tragedy forces us to think about life & death.
We grieve, mourn& we want answers.
There is literally NO WORD to define a parent who loses a child.
There is even less to say to a parent who lost a child to MURDER.
What do you call them?
These Uvalde school parents are not orphans or widows - they are BROKEN parents.
They have to live with forever-pain.
A gun law won’t change their reality.
A trained security guard won’t comfort them when they wail lay prostrate crying guttural cries of lamentations at night.
A message from President Biden won’t bring them peace.
A moment of silence at a Football game does not comfort them…
There is only One Name that comforts-
His Name is JESUS.
He is the Son that was murdered for us.
God the Father is the Parent that watched His Son die.
Prayers are effective. When we pray God’s way.
It is not really true that “prayer changes things”
It is True that God changes things.
God changes us -the pray-ers.
Follow along with me.
My girlfriend said that “every time we pray we are successful.”
I have been thinking about that for the last few weeks…
Prayer is always successful.
I have prayed and heard God say no.
I have prayed and heard God say yes.
I have prayed and heard God say wait.
I have prayed and heard God say nothing- only silence.
God responds in different ways to our prayer requests.
If that is true ^ how can we say prayer is always successful?
The reason why prayer is always successful is because WE change.
We have spent time with the Father which is always a “WIN.”
It’s not about getting our agenda accomplished -it’s about getting alone with God and wrestling with Him.
I remember one time wrestling with God over Isaac’s autism.
I was exhausted and tired of asking for healing.
The Lord had me switch gears for praying for Isaac’s physical healing to asking God to use Isaac’s life.
I prayed and asked God to use Isaac and that God would be magnified & glorified through Isaac‘s life. (See John 9)
One time I was praying & the Holy Spirit led me to pray this-
“Jesus, may people get saved through Isaac’s life”
I opened my eyes and I couldn’t believe I even asked that…
My human understanding turned to many questions-
How can someone be saved when Isaac doesn’t talk?
How can someone be saved when Isaac doesn’t preach?
Isaac is not like a Greg Laurie- he is not an evangelist -so how can God answer that prayer that people would receive salvation through Isaac‘s testimony and life ??
I had to confess my lack of belief…
I said “Lord I know that you can do anything I don’t know why you led me to pray that but I trust you and yes I do believe that you could use Isaac to save souls!”
An old preacher one said “preach the Gospel every day if necessary use words”
Isaac does not have many words and he definitely cannot articulate the Gospel but he does have a huge smile and when he has good days the teachers and aides at his school are really blessed by him…
We must pray with fervency we must pray with expectation and in the instance of the Texas shooting we must pray with deep anguish & lament.
We must not let these nonbelievers on TV discourage us from praying!
Check out James 5 with me-
James 5:13-18
Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise.
Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.
And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops
****
We must believe and pray in faith that our God not only hears but He will answer. Some of our prayers may not get answered until after we die.
Are you OK with that?
I am.
I am not God and neither are you…
We have the great privilege and duty to pray and to persevere and wrestle with God in agony in our prayer closets.
I have heard women tell me before that they love to hear my prayers.
The Holy Spirit is the one that has taught me how to pray.
It is not because I’ve had a lot of good seasons in life it’s because I’ve had a lot of hard ones…
Sometimes I can’t pray and I just cry and weep and I ask Jesus to pray for me. He lives to intercede for us.
I really truly believe that we do not fully understand the power -that mountain moving power that comes when His people pray…
We can’t pray effectively if we have sin in our lives (habitual sin)
We can’t pray effectively if we’re not reading our Bibles because we don’t have the reservoir of scripture promises to hold onto…
We can’t pray effectively if we don’t confess to our friends and family our sins/struggles because that’s part of effective praying having a clean vessel…
We can’t pray effectively if we don’t worship first.
We can’t pray effectively if our heart is not in it. If our thoughts are wandering or if we really don’t care …
We can’t pray effectively unless we are really willing to surrender the outcome to Him.
We can’t pray effectively if we’re using too much of our words and not God’s.
So you see… I don’t agree with Bakari Sellers.
I would never say thoughts and prayers are worthless…
I would say “good vibes” are worthless…
I would say praying to a false god or rote religious chant or praying to a false idol is worthless….
But if you have a God in heaven who is holy and who invites us to pray in the name of Jesus fueled by the power of the Holy Spirit I do believe that these prayers have great worth and they are EFFECTIVE.
May God‘s people start praying… His Word, His Way & all according to His Sovereign Will
We pray for the families in Texas.
And when we finish praying, we’ll rest a minute and then praise & pray some more!
JESUS HAVE MERCY!
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