The Reality and Mystery of Prayer (episode 32)

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Do you love a prodigal? Do you feel like you are lost in a scary and endless wilderness?

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Welcome to the When You Love a Prodigal podcast. I am Judy Douglass and I spent more than 15

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years in that wilderness. I believe together we will discover help and hope for your journey.

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Today we begin a series on our very greatest resource for living with and loving a prodigal

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and that is prayer. We are going to do about five sessions on prayer and I hope in this

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you will find yourself getting equipped with attitudes about prayer and ways to pray. I

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am going to give you some pretty tangible ways to pray and I want to tell you also that

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if you can't remember the things that I share, this is chapter six of my book, When You Love

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a Prodigal. It's a chapter on prayer. So you can get that and read more and have the black

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and white in front of you as you pray if you'd like. So let's get going on prayer. I looked

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out from my hotel room in Bangkok, Thailand early one morning. I was surprised to see

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orange clad Buddhist priests walking the streets. They stopped at home after home as women hurried

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out with a bowl of rice and vegetables for them and offering in request of prayers. That

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was a normal way. People knew they needed prayer and the monks would pray for them as

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they gave the monks food. In India, you will often see a wayside shrine on many streets.

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It's a small enclosure with an image or an icon of some deity to be worshiped and beseeched.

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People walking by can just stop, pray, ask, and honor the image. In parts of Africa and

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China, ancestor worship is common as people desire to honor their family members who have

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passed, but also to ask them for special favors and assistance in their day-to-day lives.

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The point of my telling you those stories, they are just a few examples of the reality

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that prayer is common to humans around the globe. Most people find life uncertain, threatening,

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frightening, so they turn to someone or something that they hope has a power that can help or

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rescue or set free or give hope. Those of us who worship Jehovah God rest in the assurance

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of a personal relationship with him through his son Jesus. We naturally turn to him in

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times of trouble, which he has repeatedly invited us to do. We call this prayer.

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For these next episodes of the podcast, we will seek to understand and practice prayer

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for ourselves because we need it and for those we love, no matter where they are in our product

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radical journey. A psalmist who sounds a lot like David to me says, because he turned his

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ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live. When you love a prodigal, you will do

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that just as the verse says. You're going to pray as long as you have breath or until

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you see the answers on behalf of that loved one. You try everything. You try discipline,

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contracts, changing schools, counselors, professional help, residential programs, rehab, and the

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list goes on. And some or all of your efforts might be helpful. But when you can't escape

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the wilderness, you are desperate. You fall on your knees. You know he is the one who

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can help. God's timing table is rarely the same as ours, as yours. And you discover that

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he is just as desirous of working in your life as in your loved one's life. I don't

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know if I'm always appreciative of that. But you persevere. For me and my journey with

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my prodigal, prayer became like breath for me, an ongoing intimate conversation with

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this God I was learning to know so much more deeply because of this journey. As we make

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our way through this prayer study, may you join with the children of Israel as they prepare

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to return from captivity, relentlessly petitioning our God, even as he asks. Just listen to this

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word from God. I have posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem. They will never be silent

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day or night. You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest. And get this, give him

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no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth. So we are

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not to rest from praying for our loved ones. God says, give him no rest. We're not to rest

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and we're not to give him any rest until our prayers are answered. Did you know that God

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had made such an invitation in scripture? He says, don't rest, keep praying, but don't

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let me rest. I'm listening and I will answer. We can say yes to that invitation. Yet, I

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would say prayer is a mystery. I bet you would too. Now, I'm a fan of prayer. I believe in

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prayer. I say often that the work of God is done on our knees. Then we find out what happened.

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I even facilitate a virtual global prayer for prodigals community. Yet, to me, prayer

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remains such a mystery. How in the world could the Most High God, who created it all, invite

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me to talk with him, to make requests, to ask his favor and his action on my behalf?

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How indeed. Yet, he does. Listen to these things he says to us. He says, come, ask,

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confess, inquire, thank, trust, cry, wait, pray. He also says all the time, without ceasing,

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without worry, without fear, without giving up, with thanksgiving and with faith. He adds,

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I will listen. I will hear. I will respond. I will answer. Wait, I have a better idea.

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And he adds some more. He says, ask for more. I have more to give. Ask for the impossible.

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Ask for your heart's desire. I am already answering. He reminds us, ask in my will,

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check your motives, be bold, believe. It's a mystery for sure. I choose to walk with

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him and talk with him, to thank him and bless him. But I also cry out to him and beg to

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know why. I believe and I doubt. I ask with bold courage and trembling fear. God says,

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these are amazing words. You can move my hand. You can affect those you love in the world

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beyond. You can even see miracles. Then he adds, you have not because you ask not. Ask.

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I love it when you come to me to talk with me, to share your heart and your hurts and

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your confusion and fears and hopes and needs and desires. He really wants to know what's

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going on inside you. When you open your heart to me, he says, when you tell me how you really

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feel, when you love to be with me, when you obey and trust, I'm listening. I'm there.

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I will answer. We talk, God and I. I listen and God listens and responds. He hears my

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prayers and he answers. How can this be? Yet it is. Prayer is a mystery, but we're invited

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to step into this conversation with God. So think about this. What is the most mysterious

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thing about prayer for you? What's the biggest question that you have to understand and believe

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that you can come in prayer to God on behalf of your loved prodigal or any other need in

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your life? Have you reached the point where that I did where prayer is like breath to

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you? You're just talking to God all the time because you're so desperate and you know he

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is the one who can answer and meet your needs. God bless you.

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Thank you for joining me today on the When You Love a Prodigal Podcast. If you enjoyed

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today's episode, please subscribe, rate, and review the show on Apple Podcasts or wherever

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you listen. Your review helps the show reach more people with the hope and encouragement

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of Jesus. Don't forget, take a look at the show notes. And for more helpful information,

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resources, and books, check out judydouglass.com. That's Douglass with two S's. You can find

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me on Facebook and on Twitter and Instagram at JudyDouglass417. Until next week.