"Prayer is not the pre-work of God. Prayer is the work of God."
Chassidy and I have adopted prayer as one of our family values because prayer is precisely the work of God. We pray to The Lord, our creator, sustainer, our savior, and Father for wisdom, direction, healing, provision, deliverance, and strength. He is our Daddy, and we ask him for things as a child asks their daddy for a piece of bread. We ask with confidence (con-fide (with faith), knowing that he loves us and loves to give good gifts to his children. We aren't afraid of what He will give because we know that He is completely good and he is not out to trick us. Jesus spoke of our Father when he said:
"Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!"
(Matthew 7:9-11 ESV)
Our Father loves us and desires to "give good things to those who ask him" not just for our blessing, but for his glory and for his ultimate purpose. Tommy Nelson said, "Prayer is the thin nerve that flexes the muscle of omnipotence." Chassidy and I recognize that this has to be our first ministry. This is the first step in completing the work the Lord has given us. For example, Jesus said, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few...therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest..." We have been commanded to sow seeds of the gospel in the hearts of people all over the world, but what good is that if we don't plow up the soil by prayer. It is the good soil that receives the seed that grows to produce a crop one hundred, sixty, or thirty fold, so we view prayer as oxygen for our ministry and every other area of our life.
The past few months we have found some ways to deepen our prayer life together and would love to share those with you if you are interested. Just ask.
John
The Lord is working everywhere
