In preparation for this Sunday's service on prayer I've done a lot of... well, praying and thinking about prayer. One day this week in my study time I journaled about the idea of making specific requests of God. Here is some of what I discovered that morning:

Luke 8:22-25 (MSG) "Why can't you trust Me?" is the question Jesus asked the disciples after they woke Him telling Him they were going to drown on the boat in the storm. At first I was put off by the question. They did, after all, wake Jesus up. In effect they went to Him with their fear and their concern in their problem. I do that too. So, what's this business of not trusting?

Well, they went to Him but all they did was moan and complain. They didn't really even ask Him to help them in their situation. They just did what I normally call (when I'm doing it) "whined about what was going on."

I do this. I do the same exact thing. I go to Jesus with a long litany of whining telling Him how bad my problems are, (as if He somehow missed what was going on for me) but I don't ever get around to asking Him to help - to believing that He can. If I get brutally honest, I think that, often, I don't ask because somewhere deep down I don't really believe it can be fixed (whatever "it" is) and so I don't bother.

What a complete lack of faith! I have seen God do amazing, incredible things in my own life so why this constant hard-headedness to ask Him for what I need and to believe that He will provide like He has promised?!

Now, supplication - or making requests of God - is just one aspect of the model of prayer Jesus gave us. Although it can seem to be the aspect we use the most, the other aspects of prayer are adoration, confession and thanksgiving. Tomorrow morning Jan will address all of these in her teaching and at the end of the service we'll have time to visit prayer stations that are set up around the auditorium to put into practice what we will learn about prayer.

So, no surprise here, I'm going to ask you to pray for this weekend's services. Please talk with God about what you need to hear from Him about how you keep communication lines open between you and Him. And, don't wait until the service, start your conversation now.

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