Prayer in faith

Prayer is a hard thing for me.  And frankly, I rarely pray.  When I do, it's always a "shock".  I've had a bad experience with prayer and have been afraid to participate in that kind of communication with God, because He might not listen...or so I thought. 

Recently, I actually did pray for something in my personal life and saw the answer to that prayer later on.  I was dumbfounded.  God used that to show me that He is listening; that He does care.  I still have fears that can sometimes be irrational, but my experience in seeing a response put some of that fear in the trash.  I can't explain well enough how that changed my perspective on prayer.

Growing up, I was a believer with pure childlike faith.  I knew how to pray and did so often, though I was also taught the wrong way in ministry.  I tried so hard to be in tune to Gods will and have faith.  There were a lot of prayers I prayed that were not answered like I thought they would, which frustrated me to no end because I blamed myself.  I believed that I was somehow not in tune with God's will, and therefore was somehow less of a Christian because of it.  However, I don't think I  understood what faith really meant.  I thought it meant belief that what I asked was going to happen...but I don't think prayer works that way. 

               faith
               complete trust or confidence in someone or something

The more I think about it, the more I realize that I personally believe praying in faith means praying with confidence in the person of God.  Praying with confidence that the person (God) will answer according to what He believes is fitting for us.  Believing and trusting in the Godhead, the Trinity, knowing that His plan is only the best, is the only option for us.  You can't have faith in the thing that you are asking for, no matter how Christ centered you believe you're being...unless it is written in God's story for your life, you can't expect it to happen.  But believing and trusting in the Writer of your story...that's when you know you have confidence in the right thing.

I'm not perfect and I still don't fully understand how prayer works, but I'm learning.  I'm in no way saying you should stop praying for things, because I mean God specifically says to ask, seek, and knock!  Just make sure you have faith in the person not the prayer.  And remember that He will answer according to His will.  Remember that prayer is just a conversation with your Creator.  It's like talking to your best friend.  And it's a beautiful and incredible privilege to get to talk with the same person who Created the entire universe!  How special and undeserving are we. 

                                                                  In His Arms,
                                                            Olivia Grace

God Is Chasing You

Watermark Church - The Porch

When I went to the Porch on Tuesday night, I didn't expect to be impacted.  But I was.  David Marvin was going through the bloodline of Jesus Christ starting with Adam and Eve and talking about how we were made in the image of the Trinity, how we were created to connect to God, and how temptation calls God's Word into question.  We know that we're in temptation because we try and justify the sin, questioning God's Word and attempting to make what we're doing seem okay

Then, sin brings separation from God.

The separation because of sin saddens our Father because we were made to connect with Him.  One of the stories David mentioned was about his daughter.  He was at the store with his two kids and had one son running off in one direction, and his 1 1/2 year old daughter running in the other direction.  David was yelling at his son to come back and his daughter to stop.  She was going towards a piece of popcorn on the floor and wouldn't listen.  She picked up the popcorn, put it in her mouth, and then began choking.  Her face was changing colors and he began patting her on the back trying to get the popcorn out to help her breathe again.  David suddenly wasn't angry at his daughters disobedience, but rather concerned about the result of the disobedience.  In the same way, God is concerned about the outcome of our sin.  He is not standing around angry, but instead deeply concerned and saddened, desiring to help you.  I can't imagine what it's like to be the God of the Universe and have the one thing that He loved most -walking and talking with us in the garden- broken because of sin.  Now we have a separation every time we disobey and we have to go back to Him in repentance all the time.  But the beautiful picture is that He doesn't just leave us in our sin.  He comes after us...

The last image David gave was this.  When you hear a siren you look to see where it's coming from.  If it's a police car, you become worried and scared that they are coming after you.  But if you've been in an accident and hear a siren you are relieved because they are coming to help you.  The same goes with God.  He is not coming to get you.  He is chasing after you to help you.  He doesn't want you to stay in sin, but to grow and look to Him.  If God is chasing you to help you, the question is are you running away from Him or running to Him?

Truth be told, I've been running away from God.  I haven't seen Him because I haven't been looking.  I haven't found Him because I haven't been seeking.  And ever since that message last night I've been saddened to think that God has been chasing me trying to help, and all I've been doing is missing Him.  Because of fear.  Because I didn't think to look.  And now I get the chance to go back to Him, to seek and to find, to run towards Him.  What will you choose today?

                                                               In His arms,
                                                          Olivia Grace