Have you ever been left disappointed by a prayer that did not get answered? It can be disheartening and, at times, even make you question whether prayer really works. You may ask yourself ‘Does God hear me? Does He even care?’. If you have lived long enough, you may have asked these questions at some point. While God can and does dramatically intervene and alter things at times (the gospel of Luke states; The Lord God Almighty can do all things; there is nothing impossible for Him), you do come to realise that prayer does not guarantee a change in our circumstances. Especially in the timing or way we want.
Prayer doesn’t always change our circumstances, but if we pray to God with humility and openness to His will, it changes us. Mother Theresa discovered this through her many years of humanitarian mission work. And if anyone ought to have some experience and working knowledge in this, it is she.
Prayer is not something given to us to change the world. It’s meant to change us, so that we can change the world.” It’s given to us to enable change.
Could knowing this change the way you approach prayer?
Our approach may also take on a new direction when we fully accept that His ways and His timing do not always align with our own. While we often pray for a specific solution or outcome that we have devised and think most suitable, He sees far ahead, knows the bigger picture, and an outcome that can bring about a change of heart through our circumstance. Isaiah 58: 8-9 declares, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts”.
While this truth offers comfort, it can still be extremely challenging in the moment or season or trial.
Our heavenly Father, the Lord God Almighty, invites us to pray to Him. To pray persistently, with thanksgiving, in faith, within His will, for His glory, and from a heart right with Him. Such an attitude and posture produce a change in us, equipping us to approach our circumstances changed.
The answers to the questions I began with are ‘yes’! He does hear you. He does care. He desperately loves and cares for you and wants the very best for you. Often that very best is a change of heart, or a transformation in thinking, attitude, response or action. And when we allow this to occur, we are then able to walk into those circumstances we face with a renewed approach.
You have the opportunity to pray with others at Mueller. Each Tuesday afternoon, a Parent Prayer group gathers to meet and join in prayer for the school and community. All are welcome to come from 2:30pm-3:00pm in Q204 (the room next to Hudsons).
Ben Stiller
