What Amazon.com Taught Me About Prayer

God uses every event in your life to teach you, His child, to abide in Him. Encouragement to Christian Women, Encouraging Christian Women, Encourage Christian Women, Encouragement to Women, Encourage Women,Christian women blog

This week’s winner of the $50 Amazon Giveaway was used by Him to remind me of a crucial spiritual discipline I can at times neglect.

But first, I need to let you in on a little secret…

  • I prayed before the winner was randomly drawn.
  • I prayed that the person whom God saw fit to most need this giftcard would win.
  • I prayed that God’s name would be praised by the winner who would receive this gift.

Why am I still always so surprised when God answers prayer?!

I emailed the winner breathlessly to break the news, and was blown away when I received the following response:

This is a real blessing to me because my husband is currently unemployed, and I am a stay-at-home mom.  I paid bills yesterday and realized that I did not have any extra money to buy the three remaining Christmas gifts on my list.  This gift card will cover them.

Why prayer is dangerous

A.W. Pink is one of my favourite authors. In one of his books, A Guide to Fervent Prayer, he shares this profound truth:

The prevailing idea seems to be, that I come to God and ask Him for something that I want, and that I expect Him to give me that which I have asked.

But this is a most dishonouring and degrading conception. The popular belief reduces God to a servant, our servant: doing our bidding, performing our pleasure, granting our desires.

No.

Prayer is a coming to God, telling Him my need, committing my way unto the Lord, and leaving Him to deal with it as seems Him best.

Why should you pray (if God already knows all things anyway)?

You shouldn’t pray:

–       To get your way,

–       To gain what you want

–       To change God’s mind

Pray for one reason only: That God may receive GLORY when He answers your prayer! (If you’re on Twitter, click here to tweet that)

To grasp this simple truth can have a profound affect on your life, your marriage, and your parenting.

When you misplace your car keys, PRAY, so that when God leads you to find them, all can acknowledge that He answers prayer.

When your heart desires a close friend to confide in, PRAY, so that when God provides one, He receives all glory.

When one of your children is struggling with an issue, PRAY, so that when God helps her to overcome it, God will be glorified!

I often pray out loud so that others will hear my prayer and recognise God’s faithfulness when He answers, resulting in Him being glorified.

What kind of pray-er should you be?

Prayer is not so much an act as it is an attitude – an attitude of dependency, dependency upon God.  A. W. Pink

God will not answer every prayer the way that you think He will (or should), but He will already be receiving the glory due His Name just because you are expressing your dependence upon Him.

Become a habitual pray-er, to bring God continual glory!

Pray without ceasing – 1 Thessalonians 5:17

And that, my dear friend, is how God used Amazon.com to teach me about prayer! 🙂

What is one reason that you struggle to pray? What attitude or thought would help you to pray more often?

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