Pastor's Desktop Article for June 2012

“When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. ‘Lord’, Martha said to Jesus, ‘if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask’. “ (John 11:20-21NIV) While we may never ask the question aloud, or even dare to ponder it long, we may at some point have asked ourselves, “Why bother praying?” Allow me to pose the question, and then attempt to answer it in hopes of giving us a greater sense of confidence and faith when we do seek the Father in prayer. Why bother praying? Because of what Martha tells Jesus in the last line of the passage above, “But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” While we are confronted daily, or on some days even more often than daily, with situations that are beyond our control, or leave us dismayed with what our response to them should be, we have a heavenly Father who is never perplexed, confused or surprised with the situations that we encounter. We pray to our heavenly Father because we know that His resources are limitless—His wisdom and His power to change our circumstances or to give us the strength to endure them is boundless. We pray because we know that God has the power to give us whatever we ask for. In His wisdom, He doesn’t always answer just like we think He should, but in time we will see that His way was best, even if it wasn’t the easiest for us. We pray because we know from Scripture and perhaps from some of our own experiences that God has the power to change things. One of the reasons I feel that it’s a good thing that we share our praises, testimonies and prayer concerns in the morning worship service is that it may help someone who is in need to have others praying for that need, but also because hearing the answers to prayers may help others have greater faith that God will also answer their prayer. We pray because prayer changes things. We pray because the practice brings us closer to the God who wants us to be in close fellowship with Him. We pray because Jesus prayed; and if Jesus had a need to pray, given His relationship with His Father, certainly we need to pray as well. If you ever wanted to be involved in the church, but you weren’t sure how, or didn’t want to be up front and have to talk in front of a group of people, then pray. If you think you are too young or too old to be on a board or committee, but you still want to help, then pray for those on those boards and committees. If you are concerned about someone’s salvation, but you don’t know if you could actually lead them to Christ, then pray that God will send someone to them to lead them to Christ. Be careful though, because He may just send you! By His Grace Alone, Pastor Bruce Jacobsen