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