Persevering in Prayer, episode 90

0:00 If you love a prodigal, you can discover help and hope for your wilderness journey right here at When You Love a Prodigal, and also help and hope for your own life journey. Today, we will continue our wilderness exploration, looking for treasured gifts on a prodigal journey. Be sure to jot down any ideas you want to try in your wilderness journey so you don't forget. I used to think I knew how to pray. Then, this prodigal time of our lives, 15 years, with my wandering son, required desperate prayer, and I moved into a new dimension of what it meant to pray.

0:53 Even now, I realize I still know so little about praying. Prayer is a wonder I can barely comprehend. Sometimes I feel woefully inadequate and terribly ineffective. Does anything happen when I pray? Yet I keep praying, often, even always. Here are some of the ways I pray. Maybe these will be an encouragement and help to you. It's not a formula. There's no order, because life in the moment often dictates how I come to the Lord, what I say, and even what position I get in.

1:39 We'll start with one of my favorite ways to pray, walking on the beach. In our conversation with my God, with sand in my toes and the waves lapping my ankles, the ocean masking nearby sounds, I usually ask God, what do you want to say to me? And he usually responds with words of love, affirmation, comfort, and new opportunities and sometimes some admonition. And then sometimes I start with, I have something to say, Lord.

2:22 I almost always pray with great honesty. I find it's good to tell God the truth, because he knows it anyway. The beach is a good place to yell out my anger or fear or confusion. My home, when no one else is there, also works well. God always listens patiently and responds compassionately, reminding me of truth I know, of what he is like, of how I need to respond. Sometimes I fall on my face, literally, in awe, that the God of the universe would invite me into his presence to talk with him, to share my heart, to listen to his heart.

3:15 I am so unworthy, yet he treasures me and wants me with him. Or I might drop to my knees and cry out, begging God to choose to do what I know he can do. Would he please heal or rescue or provide or change things, change a mind or a heart or a situation? Jesus says that he responds to those who cry out day and night, so I do it. Many times, as David describes in the Psalms, my tears have soaked my pillow.

3:55 Help me, Lord, or help my loved one. I also pray by myself and with others. I use scripture. I pray through long parts of the Psalms, for example, and a lot in the latter part of Isaiah has been a great source of prayer for me. I read aloud prayers written by others. I raise my hands in worship. Of course, I have interceded on behalf of those I love, friends and coworkers, our leaders, world situations, those needing justice, and many other people, needs, events, and for those who love a prodigal.

4:43 Gratefully, one of my most frequent prayers is, thank you, Lord. I have taken seriously the admonition to give thanks in all things. And oh, the difference it has made in all the above prayers. If I can say thank you, I have a whole different perspective on it. So you say you actually thank him? Does he answer your prayers that you should say thanks for the answer? Well, yes, he answers. Sometimes my hearing's not so good. Often he says, no, not a good idea.

5:25 Other times he says, yes, but it usually looks a little different than what I had in mind. Often he says, I have a better idea, Judy. He is rarely in a hurry, but always on time. He is always in a hurry from his great knowledge and his great love. My saying thank you affirms that I believe he is God and he is good. And in my experience, those little words are like a key to open a door for God to work. I've experienced some amazing answers to prayer. I've seen people healed in heart and body.

6:07 I've seen a remarkable community praying with them. Yes, sometimes God seems silent. At those times I feel like I know nothing about praying and I grow weary of waiting. Then once again, my Abba, daddy, father invites me into his embrace, into his heart. I can listen and cry and laugh. How sweet is that? Oh yes, there is the waiting. I think wait is one of God's favorite words. I'm not a fan of waiting and probably you aren't either.

6:50 But one of the realities that God seems committed to is that when we learn to wait, to be patient, to persevere, we will learn important things. I don't think I've ever asked for the gift of perseverance. I might desire persistence, fortitude, even patience or endurance. But not perseverance. It sounds painful. But that's a gift I have received often, especially during this prodigal journey. I wrote this sort of poetry in the midst of a very hard time.

7:32 Never give up. Sometimes it seems to no avail. You love unconditionally as best you can. You encourage, affirm, look for the good. You set boundaries and enforce consequences. You forgive and forgive and forgive again. You pour out mercy and grace and they keep going their wayward way. They reject you, disappear from your life, or even when they make better choices, they take you for granted. The casual thanks they give hardly conveys gratitude.

8:12 The offhand apology seems barely sincere. Coming around again with an outstretched hand, then gone again until their next neediness. You cry. You pray. You reach out. You let go. You wait. Does this sound familiar? I bet many of you could have written those same words. I've had those thoughts and those questions wondering how will it end? When will it end? When will the asked for change happen?

8:52 Perhaps our God, our loving Father, could write something similar about us. Surely occasionally we have the same attitudes, responses, words, actions toward him that our beloved Prodigals have toward us. Yet he keeps loving, correcting, encouraging, embracing. God gives out extravagant mercy and grace. He waits. He perseveres. And so can we in his spirit. So we have looked here at two gifts. One is just prayer in itself, that we can talk to God.

9:37 That's just so amazing that he says, come on up, come join me here at the throne. Let's talk about anything. We can pour out our hearts. But then he does usually let us have to persevere. We don't always get what we want. Well, we don't always get what we want. But when we do even, it's rarely when we want it. And so one of our gifts is prayer, conversation with God himself. But another one is learning to persevere, learning to wait, learning to not give up. Because God is just as committed to doing the work in us as he is to answering our prayers about our loved one.

10:25 Because he wants them to grow, but he also wants us to grow. So I have a few questions for you. What are some ways that you pray that you especially like? What are the ways of praying or one or two that are very meaningful to you? And when have you found unexpected treasures in your praying? When has God revealed something to you? When have you understood or when have you seen an answer that you really wanted? And how have you been able to persevere?

11:05 How would you explain it to someone else? What's it like to keep hanging on, to not give up, to wait on God who is acting in his perfect timing? Next week we will wrap up Searching for Treasure in the Wilderness with two more valuable gifts. I think you're going to love what we're going to talk about next week. And I would be really grateful if you would tell a friend. Probably if you have a product or you know someone else who does, maybe they would like to listen to this podcast as well. And while you're doing that, take a minute to rate it and even comment if you're listening on Apple.

11:53 I will be praying for you. God bless you.