If you’ve followed my writing, you’ll remember an article that I wrote before the election called “A Prayer for Our Country.” My sub-headline said, “I’m running out of coping mechanisms.” It was a pretty good sub-headline, and it accomplished what I wanted – it was kind of funny, and it drew readers in. After I thought a little more about it (and after it was too late to change it), I realized how wrong it was to write that. Not only is prayer definitely not a coping mechanism, it’s also not our last resort. In fact, it should be the very first place we turn. Prayer should be our first response to anything that happens: sad, happy, scared, angry, hurt – we should always turn to God in prayer before we do anything else.
I’ve had some awful things happen to me before. Every time, I’m forced to immediately rely on God because I know there’s no way I could've handled the weight of the situation on my own. While those times are positively dreadful, they are also some of the times that I’ve felt closest to God. When my life was turned upside down (a couple of times), I turned to God and trusted his plan, and let me tell you, I have never felt more at peace. When I’ve felt alone or unloved, I’ve turn to God in prayer, and there’s suddenly a presence with me wherever I go. I remember that there is someone who loved me with a more perfect love than any human could ever give.
I wish I could say the same for when things are going well. When my life is great, and everything’s going according to plan (my plan, that is), I suddenly don’t feel the need to rely on God. Prayer becomes unnecessary, or so I think. Here’s the deal, though: prayer isn’t a tool to get what you want. When things aren’t going my way, I am not to pray for God to make things go my way, I am to pray that HIS will be done and that I will be satisfied in Him and His way and have peace. When things are going “my” way, I should thank God that He has given me an easy road and that He has given me so much to be grateful for. Prayer isn’t just for asking, it’s for praising and thanking and confessing. It doesn’t matter what’s going on in our lives, there could be great pain and suffering or there could be happiness and satisfaction, but we are to pray without ceasing. That means that we should literally be praying all the time.
When you’re sitting at the red light, when you’re having dinner with the ones you love, when you’re crying in the hospital waiting room, when you’re at the wedding of your best friend, when you’re at work, when you’re at church, when you’re at school, when you are living, you pray. You never stop praying because God never stops answering. You always pray because God always listens. Prayer is not a coping mechanism or a last resort. Prayer is one of the greatest gifts we have been given, and we will never be able to pray enough.
