Mail Delivery Failure

Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
1 John 5:14-15

I sent some email today, and a few seconds after I sent it, I got a new email in my inbox, with the words "Mail Delivery Failure" in the subject line. I really needed that email to go. So there was a certain level of frustration upon seeing those words. I immediately knew that my email wasn't leaving my computer, and being received by the person to whom it was sent.

Sometimes, we followers of Christ feel this way about our prayers. It just seems like that our prayers are "bouncing off the ceiling," or that God has somehow left us to fend for ourselves. In other words, it seems to us to be a "Mail Delivery Failure."

Christian, know this, that God may not "feel" like He is close to us. But we don't (or at least we shouldn't) operate on feelings. We walk by faith, and confidence in His Word, and in the promises of His word. The above verses tell us that God is there, listening to us, listening to our prayers. In Revelation 5, it tells us that God collects the prayers of His saints in golden bowls of incense. That means that every prayer that we make in our hearts or with our lips, God hears it, and savors it, and saves it.

In my life, and in my daily walk, I have learned (and am still learning) that prayer is the most powerful thing that a believer can do. Spending time with God, in prayer, moves things in the spiritual realm. I don't mean that it makes God do what we want Him to do. There is a theology out there that is under the premise that we can demand things from God. Demanding things from God is something that makes me shudder. Listen. Prayer is not for us to rattle off a "grocery list" of wants and desires to God and say "Amen" and be on our way. That is not what prayer is all about. Prayer is for us to get our hearts in line with the will of God; what He wants for our lives today. Because once our hearts are in line with God's heart, then whatever we ask, He hears us, because whatever we ask is already in line with His will. And then it is His will to answer that prayer. Our part is to then have the "spirit eyes" to see the answer when He sends it, however He answers.

God tells us in His Word that He will not leave us, that He will not forsake us. God is near. Never doubt that, Christian. He is watching, He is listening, and He is active in our lives. Sometimes He works behind the scenes, so that it "feels" like He isn't there. Just know, God doesn't send a message to us of "Mail Delivery Failure."