Amazon Prayers?

Hear my voice when I call, Lord; be merciful to me and answer me. Psalm 27: 7

Does God really hear us when we pray?

That's the question, isn't it?

Yesterday at church, visiting Pastor, Gordon Jardy talked to our congregation about a series of instances in which he fervently prayed and the outcomes were not what he had so passionately prayed for...and how that could be crushing if we are looking at prayer from misleading perspective.  I call it, the "Amazon Prayer" perspective.  This is when we present our petition/request to God and expect to get exactly what we asked for in a very timely manner -like when we go to Amazon, place our order, pay for it and in two days we expect to receive it in a neatly wrapped package.    

They say, God is not a genie, right?  Well, He is not Amazon either.

As I listened to Pastor Jardy and an audio podcast from a Panamanian priest from my hometown who also addressed this issue, the Holy Spirit is revealing in me the fact that the miracle, the gift, the real answer to our every prayer is prayer itself!  The fact that we can communicate with the Maker of Heaven and Earth, the Ruler of the Universe, is the answer to our prayer.  The real miracle is that Jesus opened the path of direct communication with Our Heavenly Father by His birth, life, death and resurrection...and by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in us.  The gift is His saving grace.  The answer is His constant love and His presence.

What about me? What about my pain? What about my needs? What about my hurt? What about my brokenness? What about my healing? What about my suffering? Why can't You take it away, God?

He certainly can...if it is in His plan.  And that is the toughest thing to accept, isn't it?  To trust that an All-powerful and Almighty and Loving God chooses to answer our prayers and petitions differently from what we wanted, is a hard pill to swallow.  But that's the test.  That is the test of our faith.  That's what reveals what we are made of.  That's what allows our complete dependence and reliance on Him to flourish.  That is how He becomes Our Lord of All.

As we realize this truth, we continue to pray.  We continue to pray He hears us.  We continue to pray He answers us in a way we can understand.  And we continue to trust Him, His Love, His Mercy, His Provision, His All-Sustaining Power and His Perfect Will.  In the Precious Name of Our Lord, Jesus the Christ.  Amen

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 1 John 5: 14