Devotion - Wednesday, May 7, 2008

East Heights Daily Devotional
Wednesday, May 7, 2008

1 John 14-15
14This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

A number of years ago, as a young mother and a participant in the Mom’s group at East Heights, I realized one day that I didn’t know how to pray. Our group had begun to pray together and to talk about prayer and suddenly I realized that I had no confidence in my prayers or my ability to pray “correctly,” and my practice of prayer was mostly a Sunday morning event or a crisis solution when someone I knew had a problem I couldn’t fix. These were not wrong prayer practices, but it seemed that something was missing. In response, I immediately bought my first book on prayer.

Since that time, prayer has become a large part of my daily life.  I love to pray, alone or with others. I still gravitate towards books on prayer and learn much from exploring God’s word concerning prayer. But I also continue to struggle at times with my own desires to have it my way.  Many times I hear in my prayers a desire to have God bless what I want without even asking Him to show me His will in the situation. Sometimes my compulsion for books on prayer seems to be driven by a desire to find the right formula – to satisfy my intellect and quest for knowledge of prayer and thus finally “get it right.”

Some time ago, I acquired another new book on prayer called “The Prayer God Loves to Answer,” by Don Nori. The premise of this book is that by saying “Yes” to God, we will pray according to His will and insure that we have prayed a prayer God will always answer. Praying in God’s will is praying in the Spirit. This kind of prayer releases God’s power within and through us and affirms the word that came to Zechariah long ago: “This is the word of the Lord… ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.” Zech. 4:6

For Prayer & Reflection:  How is God calling you to say “Yes Lord” to His will and purposes for you today?

Devotions this week are written by:

Beth Strickler
Director of Prayer  Ministries, East Heights United Methodist Church
Beth@ehumc.org / 682-6518
www.ehumc.org