Grace MEMO ~ Dropped Prayers

A good devotion from Pastor Daron Lindemann:

 

Grace MEMO: No Dropped Prayers

 

Prayer takes place on the most reliable communication network in the universe.

 

When a believer’s prayer life has stalled or even just sputters once in a while it’s probably not because they’re too busy to pray. It’s often because they’re too burdened to pray. Burdened with the fear that God isn’t interested in what they ask because they feel like a whiny little brat who needs to behave better before God will listen.

 

That’s not what Jesus teaches about your prayers, though. Jesus says that you are God’s dearly loved child and he delights to hear about your problems and dreams, your ideas and desires despite any poor behavior.

 

Like parents can see through poor behavior in their child and understand the hurt and pain at the root of the poor behavior, God the Father knows all and sees your hurt and pain, your feelings of guilt, your fears. He doesn’t turn away but embraces you with the sacrificial love that gave up his very own Son, Jesus Christ, to adopt you to be close to him forever. The Bible wonders, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things” (Romans 8:32)?

 

Jesus teaches us about the reliability of prayer in the opening words of the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Father in heaven.” God is not sitting behind a fax machine that runs out of paper, or waiting with cell phone in hand to lock onto a good signal, or at a desk unaware of your e-mail that got filtered into his spam folder.

 

Prayer takes place on the most reliable communication network in the universe. Heaven. It is perfect and that means believers never lose our connection with God, our prayers are never dropped, or lost in space, or returned as undeliverable. Whatever you want God to hear, he hears. Better yet, he listens.

 

PRAYER: Father in heaven, it’s so good to call you Father. Sometimes I don’t realize what a privilege that is, to be in a child relationship with you and to know that you don’t discard me when I fail, when I worry too much, or even when I slip into misbehaving. Have mercy on me and give me your grace, so that I learn to pray with even more faith in you and love for others. Amen.

 

A M essage of E xtraordinary M ercy and O pportunity from Pastor Daron Lindemann, Grace Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, WI located downtown at Broadway and Juneau
www.gracedowntown.org