This and That – A Few Thoughts on Prayer.

Greetings! This morning’s Open Windows devotional passage was about Jonah. Remember poor ol’ Jonah? He monkeyed around with God’s commands, and BAM! He got ate-up by a big fish. While in the fish’s stomach, he had a little time to think about what he’d done. And he began to pray. (So would I if I were being jostled around in a fish’s stomach! LOL! ) But there is power in prayer. As the devotional passage stated:

“Sharing grief and carrying each other’s burdens are two of the most blessed and beautiful attributes of Christian fellowship. As the tears flow during our prayers, the Holy Spirit goes before us, voicing our deepest thoughts when we are unable to do so. During our prayers, our hearts are united in one purpose as we pray to the Father for comfort. Such is the power of prayer.
Jonah took comfort in God. He prayed to the Lord at the lowest time of his life. Jonah’s remembrance of the Lord brought him confidence in God’s mercy. His spirit wavered in the storm, but Jonah knew his prayer in the belly of the fish reached God in His holy temple.”

Wow! What powerful words!! Knowing that God and Jesus are there in the storms of life is a comforting thought! Those of you—like me—who have lived through real storms or storms of our own making, the storms of unexpected death and depression, coupled with the everyday storms of just living in this evil, scary world we call home, can attest to the power of prayer! I know I can!

At times, when it seems our prayers are not answered, it’s easy to want to “curse God and die,” as Job’s friends told him to do. But when we feel we are walking alone on the seashore of this wicked, scary place we call home, lest we forget: When we see only one set of footprints in the sand, remember those footprints are those of Jesus, who, because of His love for us, carried us along the treacherous shore of life when we were too weak or depressed to do so. Think you’ve got it bad? Yikes! Be glad you’re not like po’ ol’ Jonah – sloshing around in the belly of a big fish! It gives you chicken skin just thinkin’ about it! 🙃
Later Big Fish ‘Gaters! 🥰

(Originally posted March 21, 2015)