Tag: Understanding

The Key Difference in Prayer

- JaclynPalmer Leave a comment

The key difference between the empty prayer of the Pharisee and the new prayer instructed by the Lord is the spirit of humility and understanding as to what prayer is truly about. Prayer is about your relationship with your Father not a verbal affirmation of yourself.

How great is our God! Jeremiah says of him, “His ways are not our ways. His thoughts not our thoughts.” Yet, when He hears our prayers, He hears our requests simply. Although we may express them as big prayers and small prayers, He doesn’t. We saw in the last chapter that what we consider small (hatred and lust) are comparatively the same as what we consider big (murder and adultery). Just the same, the wants and needs of our hearts are comparably the same in God’s eye. God looks at your needs and desires as a way to shower down blessings on you. Open your hands wide when you pray, for when you pray, believing, you will receive. This is a promise.

Jesus tells His disciples, who were recently out of work, to think on this:

But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown in the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, “What shall we eat?” Or “What shall we drink?” Or “What shall we wear?” -Matthew 6:30-31

Food, drink, clothes what are those to you? Even the most practical of women have to admit that they are everything to us. Come on, without food we would be hungry, without drink we would be dead, and without clothes we would be celebrating our birthday one too many times. These three things are important to all mankind. They are a necessity.

That being said, because they are everything we need to live, they are everything to God. You are everything to God. He created the plants; He provides for them. He created you; how much more will He provide for you? Too many hours are wasted in panic and worry. Worry is a sin. It is a lack of trust in the Father. We do not know what tomorrow holds, God does. We are not promised tomorrow. Why waste today worrying over something completely out of your hands?

God created today. He created you. He knows what He is doing. Trust Him and take no thought.

Which matter of prayer needs to be brought to God and laid before Him with pure trust in His power to provide? Read Matthew 6:25-34 again and commit God’s commands and promises to heart.

**Excerpt from The Beautiful Reward; pages 57, 60-62

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God’s Answer for Anxiety

- JaclynPalmer 1 Comment

I don’t know if I belong here. Do I battle anxiety? No. Like I said, I don’t know if I belong here. Statistically, I should be.

I met God when I was three years old, nearly 40 years ago. I met my mother’s husband when I was eight. I knew the love of The Father for five years, and now I was stuck with the infatuation of a father. They did not mix very well. Oil and water. Throughout those years, I memorized the Word of God. I clung to it, really. His Words drowned out the emptiness. They became my foundation. Life was hard; pain was real. But I always heard His love sung over me. His words washed through me as its promised two-edged sword separated the foul from His Truth. It fought in ways I didn’t see until I got older and was questioned about my lackadaisical approach to anxiety and worry and stress. “The smell of smoke,” I was told, “isn’t even on you.” A statement too grand to not cast at His feet.

“Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” Jeremiah 33:3 struck deeply within my core. It became the prayer of my heart as a young teenager. Trying and failing at imagining what the Lord could reveal to me, something too grand for my comprehension. I was hungry to see it. I wanted it to be my way of escape.

As I sit here in this room hearing the angst of anxiety and worry and stress, I understand a bit more about this truth. I no longer hear the promise of the Father’s written Word; I see it. I may not have been shielded from the sorrow that is called my upbringing, but I was shielded from the anxiety that should have walked me throughout my days.

I look at the long days that make up this short life of mine and see the great and hidden things that wrapped itself around me. Miscarriages that brought tears without worry. Medical diagnoses that brought pain without anxiety. Life moments that brought reality without stress. Life has thrown itself all around me, but the smell of its presence lay silent on the floor.

God promises that when we call, He will answer. As He answers, He will show us things beyond our comprehension. I have been waiting for something that I could see, but I wonder if it is the unseen evidence of His Presence that explains my feeling of absence in this room. Do I battle with anxiety, No. But I know who does. His name is I AM.

I look around this room offering one word, one promise. Simple yet sweetly complete.

Call.

He promises that He will answer.

He promises that He will show you great and hidden things.

Friend, call.

Then, open your eyes and see.

“Call to me and I will answer you and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.”-Jeremiah 33:3

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In Awe of God

- JaclynPalmer Leave a comment

How I long to understand your voice. Lord, I hear it, but to understand the depth of your message is sometimes too grand to comprehend. What you ask me to do is frightfully huge.

Spirit, here I am.

How brilliant are your written words made available for my eyes to see. Lord, I see them, but to grasp them is too deep for my mind to attain. What you are saying is dynamically unfathomable.

Spirit, speak.

How lovingly is the family you created for me. Lord, all around me are your children to walk beside, but to trust them is too worrisome for my scars to overcome. Where you are drawing my feet to tread is uncomfortably new.

Spirit, your servant hears.

How great is your love for me. Lord, I understand its depth. I read its truth. I trust its faithfulness. Help me to see all things as well as I see your love. How your love has carried me all my days is magically indescribable.

Spirit, you are faithful.

How I look back at my past challenges and scars with a smile. Lord, I see your fingerprints in all my victories. Open my eyes to see your presence in my reality today. Who you desire me to be is designed by you and for your glory. This truth settles my heart with a confidence to hear, to see, to step, and to be.

Spirit, how I love you.

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