Orange Moon "Prayer and Peace"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe...

 

"Prayer and Peace"

 

   "Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6-7).

 

    Note that the only certain answer to genuine, trusting, grateful answer to prayer is peace.  No guarantee exists that the circumstances and conditions about which we pray will change in the manner we desire and believe to be best.  "If we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us" (I John 5:14).   

 

    Certainly, God often fulfills out requests in direct correlation to how we offer them.  Sometimes, however, He does not.  Israel, thinking it prayed in accordance with the Lord's promises, asked Him for a deliverer who would free them from the earthly tyranny and persecution they frequently experience to this day.  God answered their prayers, but in a way that did not align with their expectations of how He would act.  The Deliverer appeared, but in the form of seeming weakness rather than strength.  Indeed, the Lord Jesus came first to deliver hearts rather than bodies (He will come again for the latter).  Israel's prayers were answered, but in a manner they did not understand or desire.  

 

   For the born again believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, brilliant light illuminates our understanding regarding God's working in answer to our prayers.  We have a Bible to reveal and confirm that God always answers true prayers with peace, but He does not always fulfill our requests in accordance with our hopes and expectations.  How grateful we should be that this is the case!  The most devoted, godly believer on the planet at any moment does not possess perfect understanding regarding how God should work in circumstantially answering prayer.  Thus, wise believers pray with both confidence and humble awareness:

 

   "Heavenly Father, based on my knowledge of Your Word, the circumstances of the matter, and my desires, I request that You will do this.  However, I realize my "this" of how You should act is based on imperfect understanding.  I therefore ask You to work in accordance with Your perfect understanding.  Herein I rest my heart, trusting You to fulfill my requests in the best manner possible."

 

   As the saying goes, "We trust God's heart when we cannot understand His hand."  This is peace,  especially regarding the life of prayer to which our Heavenly Father calls us.  Requests offered in this awareness and attitude will always be answered with the tranquility of spirit guaranteed by Paul's assurance that "the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

 

"Thy will be done."

(Matthew 6:10)  

 

Weekly Memory Verse

     And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life."

(I John 5:11-12)

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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