You Rang?

It is amazing how fast summer moves, isn't it? It seems like poof and June is already gone. Summer has become so busy with house projects, parties and events for the kids. Has your summer gotten busy? It seems like this time of year it is easy to get caught up with the things to do outside that other areas of our lives can get neglected. Things like our relationship with the Lord. I was noticing that my prayer time was starting to get shortened and my focus was getting pulled other directions. As I was being convicted of this I read this scripture below. It is amazing how a simple little scripture can say so much.

"On the day I called, you answered me; you greatly emboldened me." Psalms 138:3

I see three simple things here in this scripture that speak to me:

Pray- It says on the day I called to you, prayer is calling on the Lord. When life gets busy it is easy to forget to call to Him. To take time in our schedule and spend time with Him. As I was reflecting on this, a thought struck me, God is always available to listen to us his children. I was reading one Rabbi's commentary and he said that the God of all the universe, takes time and actually waits for us to come and pray to him. He has so many other things going on in the universe, and yet he is interested in taking time to spend with you. Calling out to God is a posture of humility and a position of complete trust in him. . When the Bible is taking about how God will reject the proud it is not just talking about the arrogant but also those who believe that they can live their lives independent from him. Our priority should be to meet with him every day.

Listen- Another aspect of prayer that many of us miss is the listening part. We may call to God, but do not wait for his answer. We give him the list of wants and complaints and then we move on about our day. If God is waiting to listen to us he for sure is desiring to speak to us. He has given us his written word, but he also wants to reveal that word in our everyday lives if we take the time to listen. When he answers me it reminds me of his faithfulness, when I call to him He will answer us; he does not leave us without a response.

Act- The progression of this scripture amazes me, we don't just go hide away in our prayer closets. Our prayer time empowers us to go forth and act out his will. This is the pattern that Jesus gave to us, he would go away to the wilderness to pray, find out the will of the Father and then he would go and execute it. I really like how the NET version says it: "you made me bold and energized me." I used to wonder how Jesus could pray all night and then go out and do the things that he did. It is because prayer will energize and give you the strength to accomplish what he desires. If you are feeling stressed or exhausted in this season, seek him in prayer and he will energize you!