Do you ever feel like some things are too small to pray about?   I know a man who feels it’s not worth ‘bothering’ God over most issues; “God doesn’t care about that!”

Let me tell you this man is wrong!

How am I so sure? First of all, the Bible tells me so.

Psalm 139 (NIV) BibleGateway.com

Additionally I remember the first time I put the type of faith that God cares about the little stuff, into action.

I had just recently begun to acknowledge the power of prayer because my friend June would always say “Oh I’ll pray for you,” or “I’ll pray about that”. It was nice but I’m sure I was thinking, “yeah whatever.”

While my faith was little, at best, I clearly noticed a difference in the situations as a result of her prayers. I remember thinking at times when I was headed into an uncomfortable situation, “maybe I’ll mention this to June.”

Now when June prayed for me, it wasn’t like God was suddenly saying “Come to think of it June, you’re right; I will make her trip go smoothly, thanks for the idea.”  No it’s more along the lines of Him affirming His Word:

 

You do not have, because you do not ask God. James 4:2 (NIV)

Now I have no doubt there is room for understanding with every verse and I am certain that some scholars could beg to differ here (there always is a margin and there will be differing opinions); however I believe that statement to mean we should carry everything before Him in prayer.

My 1^st real life example of ‘non-desperate’ prayer occurred at Toys ‘r’ Us when my oldest son was about seven. We were shopping for a gift for a boy whom I didn’t know and I was at a total loss about what to get him.  I got an idea; it felt a little odd at first but I prayed about what to get the boy. Now I didn’t go the church or drop on my knees by my bedside, I just asked quietly from my heart in the Toy ‘r’ Us. I felt led to get him a hockey game of some sort.

I will never forget his mother’s words when he opened the gift, “Ryan loves hockey.” I could practically hear her thoughts, ‘however did you know?’

Believe what you will, but I at that point in my life I began to consider the idea that God is concerned about the details of my life.  From that moment on I began to pray discreetly at restaurants as I sat behind my menu about what to order. I began to pray as I look into my closet about what to wear and you can bet I began to pray about what gifts to buy. (Of course sometimes I forget)  I’ll tell you I’ve never been disappointed when I’ve sought God’s input.

Many days I pray about what to do and what to say.  You can bet I pray about what to write!

I pray when I’m intimate with my husband and I pray as I sing Christian music (good and loud) all day long.   I pray when I hear a friend is taking her sister in for a biopsy in her breast and when another friend is dropping her daughter off at college.  I pray for the success of my family and for prosperity.  I pray for patience and that I will be able to forgive someone who was rotten to me. I pray for forgiveness when I have been rotten to others. I pray that the things done in darkness will be exposed, in my life and yours.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Ephesians 6:18 (NIV)

Is it like magic?  No!  It is not! Sometimes God reacts as if I never even asked.

That happened to me for years when my marriage was really suffering.  For years, it hurt so much. I can tell you I begged, I pleaded, I cried out with all my heart and there were times I screamed at God, “Where ARE You?”  I got to the edge of the marriage for sure; I got to the end of what I thought I could handle in life too.

I felt deserted by God, at least in that particular area.  “God, You lead me with my order at a restaurant but You are ignoring my constant plea for rescue from this insurmountable pain.”

That’s how I sincerely felt back before I really knew how faithful He is; even when I can’t feel it.  During my darkest hour, it took me years of asking, begging and desiring Him.

During that time you bet I suffered beyond what you can imagine, but it was during that long season of suffering that I began to let go of my will and surrender to His.  I couldn’t live another day, I didn’t want to, the pain was so horrific.  The only choice I had at that point was to say, “fine God, do what You want with me because I can’t take it anymore.”

I wonder if He wasn’t like, “Oh really, you’re finally ready to prosper, are you?”  I wasn’t going to get anywhere good with my own compass, I needed to fully rely on Him and I needed to suffer a great deal before I recognized that truth.

I wanted things my way. I was willing to sacrifice a lot for God and I had already given up a lot of the things I loved because I had learned out of my closeness with Him that they were detrimental to me.  However, I had not truly died to myself until I reached the end (and for me it really was the end) of my rope.

“Fine God, have Your way, just please make this pain stop.”

I can’t say exactly when or how but there was like this damn that had been storing up all my “unanswered” prayers. It was as though He lifted the floodgate and behind it was years of what I considered “unanswered” prayers. They began to pour over me like a bubbling spring nourishing parched land.

I remember the feeling of, ‘God I thought You didn’t hear my cries in this area of my life.’ I remember realizing He had heard every last one of them but He withheld His blessings from me to encourage me to grow.

I haven’t suffered with that magnitude since, but I hope if my life’s next big heartache brings a period of ‘silence’ from God that I will remember how blessed I was by the last one.  It hurt every fiber of my being but I’d go through it again because of the way I know Him now. I not only know Him from spending years at His throne begging Him for relief, but I know He does hear my prayers and His timing is perfect.

The bible says rejoice in your sufferings.  Is that because God gets His kicks out of watching us suffer?  No, it’s because we should rejoice; it is in that suffering that we are getting closer to Him and closer to who He knows we can be in Him. It’s in suffering that we are transformed.

Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Romans 5:3-5 (NIV)

Are you praying about something and He’s not ‘answering’ you?  May I be bold enough to say, yes He is answering you? However, you must accept His timing. Trust me no matter how “off” His time clock feels; it is perfect.

Are you possibly not praying about something because you don’t want to pester God?  He’s too busy for you? You’re issues may feel huge to you but God has bigger fish to fry?  If you feel this way, you clearly know nothing about the God of the Universe, Him omniscience and His never ending love for you personally. Bust out the Psalms and allow Him to inundate you with the truth.

God told them, "I've never quit loving you and never will.
Expect love, love, and more love! Jeremiah 31:3 (The Message)

I have the freedom and comfort of talking to God anytime about anything.  I know He knows my sinful ways and each thought I have that wounds Him but I also know that His love is not based upon what I do, think or say. His love for me just is.

God is love, His love is immeasurable and it flows freer than any other love.  My sin does not weaken it, my doubts do not cause it to decline, and truly I cannot make it fade.  He is God and there is nothing I can do to change Him.

¹If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ²If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. ¹¹When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. ¹²Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (NIV)

Do you enjoy that same ability to go to God for gift ideas?  Do you not want to pester Him with issues He ‘doesn’t have time for’?  If you take the time to get to know how magnificent He is you’ll soon see that He knows the number of hairs on each of our heads. He is more concerned about you than your parents or than you are about your children.  God doesis the greatest resource of all things and He does hear our cries. care about your marriage, your children, your grades, your past, your future, your finances, the desires of your heart, your relationship with your in-laws, your weight, your womb and everything that you care about. He

Are you not comfortable talking to Him because you haven’t been to church or prayed in like your whole life?  He will hold nothing against you.  If you can believe that He loves you so much that He died for your sin (and mine) and that believing in His death on the Cross for the propitiation (to appease or conciliate somebody or something) of sin was enough than you’ll lose the chains that hold you back from being in His presence full time.

What if you know your lifestyle is not in His will; does that mean He doesn’t want you?  NO, NO, NO!

Does that mean you must stop your sinful ways before you go to Him? NO, NO, NO!

If He wants you to change, believe me He’ll equip you to do so. It’s a lie that ‘God helps those who help themselves’.  God helps those who call on Him in their need and believe that He is sufficient to provide.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28 (NIV)

He doesn’t say “come to me you who are living on the up and up and let me give you what you have earned.”  Not His style!  He wants to give us what we do not deserve.  He certainly gives me what I don’t deserve, because He loves us.

You can’t understand God’s love; it’s truly beyond anything you have ever felt.  His forgiveness is further than anything you have ever experienced.  His provision is outside of anything you have ever received.

Join me:

Lord, I have not done what You desire of me.  I do not deserve Your love. I am willing to put my thoughts and feelings aside and focus on what you have said in the Bible.

I have loved you with an everlasting love;

I have drawn you with loving-kindness Jeremiah 31:3 (NIV)

My guilt, shame, regret and fear have no place in your world. Your desire is for me to have complete peace and rest and I have been getting in the way of Your will for my life because I have not been believing who You say You are.  I am acting like I know what is right and wrong based on what I feel not what You say.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight Proverbs 3 5-6 (NIV)

I am ready to take all that keeps me from you and lay it at Your feet; my fear, my regret, my shame, my doubt, my sorrow and my disbelief. I want to feel your love; I want to be captivated by You.

Amen

If you prayed that prayer, tell me (or someone who you know who will celebrate with you) about it.  If you want to see a reenactment of the change in my life, see my personal testimony Charlotte Cole: Emotionally Bound, Radically Set Free .

Remember there is nothing too large or too small to take to God in prayer.

Check this out:

What a Friend We Have in Jesus: MercyMe (Austin, Texas)