Effective and Powerful Prayer

Speaking to a nine year old this morning who had a very difficult time with sleep last night, I asked her if she had anything on her mind.  She mentioned an great uncle who has stage four cancer.  This person has left people in his wake on the roadside hurting and abandoned.  He is not close to his siblings and has sons who he has no relationship.  Sadly, it is Nan Nan's own brother and Vicki's uncle. So what do you tell a child?

I reminded her the Apostle James tells us the prayers of a righteous person are effective and powerful.  I took her back to a time when as a five year old little girl wanting to play outside, she was prevented from doing so by rain.  I told her then to pray and ask God.  She sat on the front porch and lowered her head and asked God to make it stop.  IT DID, IMMEDIATELY! 

We forget the righteousness James speaks of is not ours, but that of Christ in us.  Jesus told us our heavenly "Daddy" (Abba, Aramaic for daddy) delights is granting gifts to his children.  We talked about how Jacob contended with God for a blessing.  Contend does not mean fight but struggle with God.  He wanted a blessing from God and I let Stefani know contending with God in prayer for others leads to a blessing for us.

Praying for others is more than a short popcorn prayer because we may not know why God has asked us to pray for them.  He justs wants us to join with him. 

Why Do We Need Conflict in Christian Marriage?

At a recent marriage retreat, the speaker stated "if you do not have conflict in marriage, what is the other person there for?"  This statement caused Vicki and I to look at each other at the truthfulness of the statement.  Conflict in marriage is the means God chooses to make YOU aware of YOUR shortcomings so the Holy Spirit can do his work.  Conflict is comes about when MY agenda, MY rights, MY desires are not met from the other person.  If you sat back and looked at all the "righteous disagreements" I can see how what I wanted or thought should have been done was really just my opinion.  God took two different people and brings them together for the pursuit of biblical relationships.

In counseling, people will tell me "God brought this person in my life!", but years down the road they are wondering what happened to that wonderful spouse.  Perhaps, a cautious look at OURSELVES will point to the areas we need to adjust.  Power, position, and prestige are areas we struggle to find in our life.  Yet, our partner has a different agenda and they never are the same.  For him--sex.  For her--affection.  Why did God make it so difficult?  Its not--we just make it so.

The next time we have conflict in our marriages or relationships, ask yourself this, "What kind of change do I need to make in my life to make this work?"