To study and “share” Shakespeare (“Yes!
You WILL appreciate Shakespeare!”) was one of my favorite parts of teaching
high school literature (Sherry knows that!). There have been periods in my
life, and maybe yours, when I could quote with heartfelt meaning part of his SONNET
29:
When,
in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries...
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries...
During some difficult periods of my
“journey,” I was so sure Heaven was “deaf” to my “bootless cries.” God was not
hearing me. Maybe that is how you feel today. These doubts did not always disappear quickly,
even though, “Of course, the Lord was
there! Of course, I knew He was!” How???
Some of you have heard me talk about what a
blessing my prayer journal has been to me. Several years ago, before I started
a journal with my requests, I had a hodgepodge way of keeping track of
requests...random lists, 3 x 5 cards, my memoryJ. The hard part was
when a friend thanked me for praying and I wasn’t sure what the request had
been!
God’s Word has to be the foundation of our
prayer life. In Matthew 18:1, Jesus told the disciples to always pray and “not
give up.” Why should we follow this directive? Because Hebrews 4:14 tells us: “We have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven,
Jesus the Son of God,” And verse 16: “Let us then approach God's throne of
grace with confidence, so that we may
receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
A little added thought...What if Jesus had
died on the cross, had arisen from the grave and had decided to build a church
in Jerusalem? He HAD to ascend to the
Father to complete his ministry for us. There He is TODAY, on the right
hand of the Father, waiting to hear our heart cries so He can take them to the
Father for us!! Wow!
My dad was such a prayer warrior that I
realized one day after he was gone: “Maylou, you had better get serious about
your prayer life.”
This might not work for all but...My
journal is very simple...I just list things as they come to me...not in
categories. # 2 might be my son David’s job while # 370 might be another
request for him. I date each one when I jot it in. So it is really a diary of
my requests over the years and how God has answered them.
Where does the YELLOW SHARPIE come in? As I pray almost
daily for every request, I mark over the request when it is answered with my
sharpie and also write “ans.” My answer might be “no” or “yes.” Many I have
prayed about for over 25 years before they were answered. Some are still
unanswered.
We need to be serious about praying for
others. We want others to see, through our prayers, that as Isaiah 4:20 states
(one of my favorite verses) “That they may see, and know, and consider,
and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this.”
No comments:
Post a Comment