Eternal Prayers

I am one of those crazy people that believes that a prayer can last, that it can cover it all. What I mean by this is that I believe a prayer whispered or thought once concerning a subject is all it takes for God to hear it and run with it. Call me insane or present me scripture that says otherwise, I would like to hear it. But I believe, for instance, that if I say "Lord, bless my father." That that prayer could run throughout his life, that even twenty years after I've prayed this that the Lord will still be blessing my father in various ways because of that single sentence.

I believe that when Paul told us in 1 Thessalonians to "Pray without ceasing" that he didn't mean that God forgets so you need to pray the same prayer over and over because he must be reminded of what you have asked of him. No, prayer without ceasing is for our benefit, and reminding the Lord of what He has said is for our benefit. It is 1) to keep us in constant communion with the Lord and 2) to remind ourselves of who He is and what He can do. When the answer comes, you will know without a doubt that it was the Lord's doing.

Now I have been a Christian since I was very little, I vividly remember asking the Lord several times to come and live in my heart (probably because I just wanted to make sure the bases were covered... just to make sure he stayed there! haha). So in all of these years, I know I have prayed countless prayers. Some prayers when I was a "little bit" have probably carried me my whole life.

God is so funny how he can speak one thing to me and it be so significant and then seemingly says nothing else just leaves me to reflect on that one piece of wisdom. The other night at church I was reflecting on the seasons of life he has taken me through and the season that I am now. The season that makes me squirm, that makes me feel like an ant under his magnifying glass, that makes me want to run and stand still all at the same time, frankly I hate this season. Now I know I am the advocate for being thankful in every situation, but I am the advocate because it's a theme in my life, it's probably the one thing I must learn for this grand scheme of his to fall into place. And then in the midst of reflecting and wondering why, He said it, "Did you ever think that the season you are in is me answering a prayer you have prayed?" Oh Geez, God, you just opened a can of worms!

It doesn't really matter what prayer I prayed, this season could be a culmination of several prayers that were prayed. Frankly the only thing I can think of is "God, strip everything away from me that isn't of you." Wow, thanks for that one, Laura ! And the answer to that seems to be bringing everything to the surface in my nature and in my heart that is not of His Spirit. Then the next step is me wallowing in it until I can't stand it any more and leave it all to Him. Pretty good plan.