prayer – Hope Walking

Let Him In!

Jack was jogging through his local county park one grey afternoon when he felt an intense pain run down his left arm. Slowing his pace he turned down a wooded path that led back to his car. The light grew dimmer, and then, much to his surprise, the sun appeared and he noticed a wall on each side that he’d never seen before. At the end was a white gate, then a green garden filled with sunshine.

When Jack reached the gate a kind-faced woman opened it, smiled and said, “Welcome Jack. I’m Marie. They’re expecting you. Please sit over by the flowering tree and someone will be right with you.”

Then she walked about 30 yards, went through a door in a hedge, and was gone.

Jack knew he should be disturbed by these strange circumstances, yet he wasn’t. He felt uncommonly relaxed. He was wondering what tree produced such colorful and fragrant blossoms, and where his car had gone, when a young handsome man approached him.

“Welcome, Jack,” he said. “I’m Elias. I just want to ask you a few questions and your escort will take you to your room. Do you have any favorite colors?”

“Well, I really like yellows, bright blue and white. But why do you want to know?” asked Jack.

”We’re getting your place ready for you,” Elias said as he made notes in a file folder. “What view do you prefer: woods, fields, mountains, lake?”
“Lake, please,” said Jack. “But tell me, why am I here? Am I dead?”
“Not anymore,” Elias said.“You had a heart attack on the jogging path. When you walk through the door in the hedge you will enter unending life. There is just one thing you will do before you go to that door. It is our custom here to let the newest arrival greet the next arrival, as Marie greeted you. I’ll stay here with you until he arrives.”

Jack couldn’t tell how long they waited. It seemed to him that time was no longer important. He felt content and joyful like never before. He wanted to sit there forever. Then he heard steps approaching the gate. Elias took out another file and said, “This is Mike. Please open the gate and let him in.”

Jack happily walked toward the gate, but when he saw Mike, everything changed.

A volcano of fear, grief, hate and anger erupted inside Jack. He reheard the shouts, the shots, the explosive crash, saw the blood everywhere and felt the cold face of the friend he loved.

“No!” he cried. “No! I can’t let him in. Elias, don’t you know what he did?”

Elias’s eyes spoke understanding, but his voice was steady and low. “No, I don’t know.”

“Don’t you have his record?” insisted Jack incredulously.

“No, we don’t. All records were destroyed by our Lord.”

“There must be a record somewhere,” Jack insisted.

“Oh, yes, there is, but it’s not here. The Accuser has it. He saves everything.”

“The Accuser?”

“Yes, the Accuser. In Hebrew he’s called Satan.”

“Wait, you have some records. When I got here you knew my name and some of my history.”

“Oh, yes, of course we know some things, like when you started to follow the Lord. Let me see. Michael Sullivan. Born again April 18, 2021, McCreary Prison, Lexington, Kentucky.”

“You have prisoners here?!” Jack exclaimed.

“Oh, no! We don’t imprison anyone. That would be the other place. So, are you going to let him in?”

“Look, I don’t see why I am under any obligation to open the door for Mike. That would be like saying I forgive him for what he did to me.”

“Precisely”

“But I never agreed to that.”

“Oh, but you did. Thousands of times.”

“Thousands of times? When?”

“Did you ever pray the prayer the Lord taught his disciples?” Elias asked. “You call it the Lord’s Prayer.”

“Of course I’ve prayed it. Ever since I was a kid. We even used to pray it in school when I was little. What’s that got to do with this?”

After a pause, Elias continued, “Did you pray ‘forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us?’”

After a long silence Jack admitted he had.

“Well, then,” Elias said. “Forgive Mike the way our Lord has forgiven you…totally.”

“But that’s impossible,” Jack wailed.

“God never asks us to do impossible things. Hard, but not impossible.”

“But, can’t I ask God to forgive me even if I can’t forgive Mike?”

“Let me ask you something, Jack. Do you remember the story of the prodigal son? Even when his father begged him, the older son refused to join the party.”

Jack quickly glanced at Mike, waiting to be let in, and nodded.

“Do you still have the letter?” Elias asked.

Jack knew what letter Elias meant, the letter from the Victim-offender Reconciliation Program at the prison.

“Look,” continued Elias. “the door to unending life is right over there. It’s called forgiveness. It’s not called, “I forgive” or “I’m forgiven” it’s simply called “forgiveness.” You either want to go there, or you don’t. As soon as you let Mike in you can go together.”

Jack shook his head. “I can’t. I’m not ready. I need more time.”

“You want more time, Jack?” Elias asked.

Jack nodded.

“Granted.”

Jack felt his body lift and fall. Glaring lights blinded him. He heard a “beep, beep, beep” over his head.

“He’s back,” exclaimed a woman in blue scrubs.

‘Oh, no!” thought Jack. “What have I done?”

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Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:32

And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. Mark 11:25

Deliver Us From Evil

What is evil?

As I went to sleep Thursday night Russian forces were attacking Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. The plant was on fire, and I did not know if I would wake up to a world covered with radioactivity. The fire died out, and I woke to the relief that at least we were out of that imminent danger – safer than I expected, but by no means safe overall. Evil is still very much with us.

But what is evil?

Most countries of the world agree that Russia’s bombing and invading Ukraine is outright evil. We all have an inner moral sense of what is right and wrong, and we often know an act is evil without having to think about it.

In the Christian worldview recognizing evil starts with recognizing the goodness of God. Our God of love created a world that is good and beautiful. You can see that everywhere. If someone destroys that goodness and beauty you know that is evil.

My grandmother Emma was born near where the war is now raging, so I decided to pinpoint her birth on historical maps. I found she was born in the Russian Empire, to a German family, in a city that is now in Poland, on land that was tumultuously disputed for centuries by those nations. Her young life was also filled with tumult. The family was working-wealthy, but her dad died when she was 10 and her brother was one. Her mom remarried badly, and they fled the country to escape the police chasing her stepfather across the border. When her mom died 5 years later, she put her brother in an orphanage and went to work.

I never got to ask my grandma about her life; she died when I was an infant. But I do know what her favorite hymn was, Be Still My Soul:

Be still my soul the Lord is on thy side.

Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain

Leave to thy God to order and provide

In every change He faithful will remain.

Jesus prepared us for a world plagued with evil when he said, “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have trouble and suffering, but take courage —I have conquered the world.”

And the prophet Isaiah instructs us how to not fear:

“Do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he will become a sanctuary.”

When we have the proper fear of our all powerful, world-ruling, loving God, our hearts will fear no one else.

Be still, my soul; your God will undertake

to guide the future as he has the past;

your hope, your confidence, let nothing shake;

all now mysterious shall be bright at last.

Be still, my soul; the waves and winds still know

his voice who ruled them while he lived below.

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Be Still My Soul (Sibelius)

Scriptures quoted: John 16:33 (NET) Isaiah 8:12-14 (ESV)

A Crumby Prayer

What if there were prayer screeners in Heaven – maybe a panel of judges that rate your prayers from zero to ten before they are sent on to the Throne Room? How would you do? No doubt you have heard some eloquent, beautifully spoken prayers at churches, ceremonies, and formal events. Would you give them a “10”? Would Heaven?

What if you were at the end of your rope, or sick, or depressed, utterly exhausted and could hardly put three words together, would God listen to you?

One day such a woman harassed Jesus. Matthew calls her a Canaanite woman; Mark calls her a Syrophoenician woman; I call her a mom – a mom with an incurably sick little daughter. She hears Jesus is in town and she has no time to compose a winning plea for his help. She rushes to the house where Jesus is trying to remain unseen and starts yelling for Jesus.

“Have mercy on me, Lord,” she cries, “My daughter is horribly demon-possesed.”

Falling on the floor at his feet she begs, “Lord, help me!”

But there seems to be a problem. This mom is a Gentile and Jesus was sent to the children of Israel. He tells her it wouldn’t be right to take the bread from the children and give it to the pets. The children have to eat first.

Whenever you are tempted to give up praying, remember this woman!

“But,” she says.

“But even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”

What a crumby prayer! She admits she will settle for whatever bread will fall to the floor. Well, after all she is already down on the floor.

But much more than that, she knows who is making the bread.

When she started yelling for Jesus she called him “Son of David.” That’s the title of the heir to the royal throne, the Messiah, God’s anointed. These are no ordinary crumbs.

“Woman,” Jesus told her, “your faith is great! You may go. The demon has left your daughter.”

What bread do you need today?

In the prayer Jesus taught, we pray, “give us today our daily bread.”

We don’t need eloquence to ask God for what we need – we need confidence in who He is.

By all means, when you can, compose beautiful songs and prayers of praise to God. But when you can’t find words, that’s okay.

“Lord, help me” is enough.

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Scripture reference: Matthew 15:22, Mark 7:25

Would You Ever Leave Again?

What do you think about the older brother’s reaction to his brother’s returning home? Read about him here.

In Jesus’ story we often refer to the younger brother as “the prodigal son.” You know how after wasting his father’s hard-earned wealth, he finds himself destitute, walks home barefoot, and is enthusiastically greeted by his dad who throws a big party to celebrate his return.

What could possibly have given the younger son the courage to walk back up to the door from which he had so arrogantly departed? What kind of man do you think the son knew his father to be? At least he knew he was a good man, not lacking in compassion or prone to retribution. I would guess he also knew his father loved him. That he did not expect the welcome home celebration he received tells us he had underestimated both his father’s love and his father’s grief when he left home. But he knew his father would treat him as well as any other beggar who showed up asking for work, so he went home.

Imagine yourself in this son’s place. You are expecting a lecture and hoping for a few pieces of bread, and instead you get the best clothes, a ring on your finger and the fattened calf with the local band. Would you ever leave your father again?!

Now imagine you are the older brother. You had watched your dad worry and grieve over your brother. You saw him age years in the months his son was away. You had hoped to never see the ungrateful brat again, but here he is and your father has not held back anything to celebrate. And you are mad! So you stay outside, hoping your father will notice how mad you are. When he sees you he comes out with a big smile on his face and begs you to please come in and be glad with him. Why do you refuse?

I love the story of the prodigal son because it speaks so clearly and loudly of God’s heart for you and me. He wants us home. Never mind where you have been – never mind what you have done – never mind all the time you wasted – just come home and celebrate our being a family. Your Father loves you. He wants you with him, under his roof, safe and sound, surrounded by love.

Jesus told us to pray, “your will be done.” Maybe we left home like this younger son because we thought we knew better how to enjoy life. When we found out how wrong we were, we went home, knowing our Father’s will was our good. Would we ever leave again?

How different this is from the relationship the older son has with his father when he says,

“Look, all these years I have worked for you like a slave, and I have never disobeyed your orders.”

He’s doing the father’s will, but his obedience is contractual, and he feels like a hired worker.

Meanwhile inside the younger son is eating and dancing and reveling in his father’s love. Tomorrow morning the three of them will head out to the fields together.

Which son would you rather be?

Pray Like This: Your Kingdom Come

How would you describe the perfect country (the perfect kingdom?) Stop for a moment and think about it. Make a mental list of what that kingdom would be like.

For thousands of years men and women have dreamed of the perfect kingdom, utopias where everything is perfect. They dreamed of places where everyone is fed, everyone gets along with their neighbors, and fighting never molests the peace. Building utopias has often been tried, but has always ended in disasters where tyrannical rule took over. History proves that. There are no Camelots we can point at and say, “There!”

The crowds who followed Jesus fully expected him to usher in the perfect Jewish kingdom with himself as king. But when Jesus was before the Roman ruler Pilate, who asked, ”Are you a king?” Jesus answered,

“My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, …. But my kingdom is not from the world.”

Jesus taught us to pray “your kingdom come.” He had two basic rules for his kingdom. The second being “love your neighbor as yourself.” Look at your mental list for the perfect kingdom. If everyone followed this simple rule I can project that your kingdom would exist. Easy enough?

So why are we so bad at building utopias? It’s because we do not have it in ourselves to build them. We do not have it in ourselves to love our neighbors as ourselves. If you are married or have children you know that no matter how much you love your spouse or child, self-interest often rules and ruins the day. We want to live in our perfect kingdoms where we are the kings and queens, even at the expense of others. Utopias crumble under the weight of our selfishness.

But Jesus’ kingdom did not crumble. Pilate, who was wise to the ruthless power plays of the Roman Empire, stood stunned before Jesus who refused to even defend himself. Then, in a move to keep his own power intact, Pilate ordered Jesus’ crucifixion. In the greatest irony every, Jesus’ kingdom rose with power when he laid down his life for us, the most perfectly selfless act in all history.

When Jesus asks us to pray “Your kingdom come,” it is an invitation into the unconquerable Kingdom of God where you are loved and cared for beyond anything you can imagine. Jesus doesn’t just tell us to stop acting selfishly, he enables us to do so by transforming us with His overwhelming love.

Take a minute to read about the son who came home in this post and this and this. There’s a big party at the end, but the elder brother refuses to go in. You can read about it here. Let me know what you think the older brother decides, and I will meet you back here next week.

What God Thinks

Do you care what God thinks? Do you believe the United States Congress should care what God thinks?

Last month a telling dialogue between two members of Congress took place in the House of Representatives.

A Representative from Florida had said, “ We are seeing the consequences of rejecting God here in our country today.”

To which a Representative from New York declared, “What any religious tradition describes as God’s will is no concern of this Congress.”

From an historical viewpoint this is an amazing statement since our founding document, the Declaration of Independence, states its authority rests on “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.” It also says citizens “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.” The justification for our nation’s very existence falls if we are not concerned with the will of God.

When Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name…Your will be done,” he was telling us to approach God with awe, and to be concerned about the will of our Father.

The word hallowed in the original Greek is hagiazo, which means to reverence and honor. This is different from the word sacred, which means the person or object has holiness that is inherent and apart from the judgement of any person.

What Jesus is asking us to do at the beginning of our prayers is to acknowledge the sacredness of the Father and act accordingly.

So what does that mean in our everyday life? We will map this out as we continue through the rest of the Lord’s prayer, but overall it means to give God honor by concerning ourselves with his will for us and for his world.

We have in the past months spent much time showing the goodness and closeness of our Father in Heaven. Now we will talk about acting as if we believe this.

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Click here for news article referenced above.

Father In Heaven

Where is Heaven?

You’ve probably prayed these words thousands of times, “Our Father who art in Heaven.” Where do you imagine Heaven is?

We throw the word heaven around a lot in our modern culture, naming ice cream, pizza parlors and ski resorts after it. Folks often say, “I was in heaven when ……” I doubt they mean anything close to what the followers of Jesus thought when he taught them to pray.

First century people had a simple understanding of heaven and earth. Earth was where they lived, walked, grew crops and buried their dead. Heaven was everything above earth, and who knew what all lived there? They easily perceived that powers and forces out of their control lived in the heavens. Thunder, lightening, hail storms and whirl winds, they thought, were the work of spirits, or gods, who had to be appeased or placated.

We have left behind the idea that Baal is hurling lightening at us, but the heavens are still very much mysterious to us. And somethings, like the recent polar vortex that froze all of Texas, remind us that we are not in control either.

Neither do we know very much about what is beyond earth. For the first time today NASA released a recording of wind on the planet Mars. Getting that sound recording was very impressive. But Mars is not far at all compared to what is out there. Take a look for yourselves on an imaginary trip through the heavens by clicking here.

If the heavens are of such magnitude that we cannot even imagine how big they are, did Jesus want us to imagine God is out there, somewhere, distant and unseen? Absolutely not!

If you were a Jew listening to Jesus teach you might have thought of God as the one who came down with thunder and lightening to give Moses the Torah on Mount Sinai. If you were a pagan listening to Jesus, you would have believed a multitude of gods and goddesses lived above the clouds, and, being afraid of them, you would have build altars and offered gifts to make them favor you. Either way you would not have been relaxed to be in the presence of Heaven.

And then Jesus spoke:

“Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this: ‘Our Father in heaven’

“I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

So, next time you look up at the sunny sky or peer out into the sparkling stars say this to yourself, “Wow! My Father made all that. And he’s bigger than all that. But he told me he knows me and cares about me. How awesome is that!”

Matthew 6:8-9, 25-26,7:7-11(ESV)

Calling God

What do you call God?

What words did Jesus use to refer to God? Stop and think a minute. Can you recall? I word-searched through the Gospels and this is what I found: God, the Lord, the father, my father, your father.

When you need him, what do you call God?

My friend recently gave me a lovely prayer shawl, complete with blue stripes and tassels. When I tried it on I noticed the word Abba was woven into the cloth over and over. Abba is Hebrew for father.

In my neighborhood we have a family that moved here from Israel. One afternoon Annie, their little girl, climbed an exercise structure and made her way out onto a horizontal bar. She hung there but soon realized how high up she was.

Frightened she yelled“Abba! Abba! Abba!” I watched her father sprint across the playground and grab Annie.

“Abba, Abba,” I cry when I am afraid or stuck.

My little neighbor knew her father would come. How do we know our Father will come?

In my previous blog I introduced the Hebrew name for God, Yahweh. When Moses first met God he asked God what his name was, and God told Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.”

Yahweh means the existent one. When you’re reading your English translation of the Old Testament and come to LORD, lord printed in all capital letters, you know the name Yahweh is there in Hebrew.

In ancient cultures a name told you something about that person. God’s Hebrew name tells us he is the one who existed before all other things.

But we need to know more, so Moses, later on, asked God to show him who he was so we could know him.

And this was God’s answer to Moses, and to us:

The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”

Will God care when you are afraid and call him? Yes! He is merciful.

Will God take care of you, as Annie’s father did? Yes! He is gracious.

Will God be patient with you? Yes! He is slow to get angry.

Will God pay attention to you? Yes! His love for you is bigger than you imagine.

Will God be there when you need Him. Yes! He is always faithful.

Jesus taught his disciples to pray “our Father,” inviting us into relationship with God.

The invitation is clear. God says, “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you.”

What are you waiting for?

Scripture references: Exodus 3:1, 34:6, Psalms 50:15

The God Who Answers

What is the name of the God you pray to? We know it’s important to identify who we’re talking to; that’s why we have caller ID. If I don’t know who it is, I don’t pick up. Would you like to know God “picks up” when you call?

A long time ago in Israel the people had a choice of which God to call on. They were in a desperate situation. No rain had fallen on the land in over 3 years. They were running out of food to eat, and they had to turn their farm animals loose because they couldn’t water them.

The prophet Elijah told the people Israel’s God, the Lord, Yahweh, was the true and living God and they needed to worship only him. But the people were not so sure. There were hundreds of prophets telling them to worship Baal. Baal was known as the god of storms, rain, lightening and thunder. The people were afraid that if they stopped praying to Baal it would never rain. They couldn’t make up their minds, so God told Elijah to help them.

Elijah set up a contest on top of a mountain and called all the people to come watch. The prophets of Baal came, all 450 of them. Elijah brought two bulls. He gave one to the Baal prophets to kill and burn as an offering to their god. BUT they could not light the fire; no matches or lighters. They had to call on Baal to come down and consume the bull. Elijah would call on Yahweh to light the fire under his bull. Whichever god sent fire would show he was the true god.

This should have been easy for Baal, because he was supposed to be the god of lighting. One bolt would do it. So Elijah sat down and watched them call on Baal to light their fire.

Elijah sat and watched all morning, and so did the huge crowd, but nothing happened. Around noon Elijah started to ask them where Baal was.

“You better yell louder,” Elijah said. “Maybe he’s asleep and you need to wake him up.”

The prophets yelled as loud as they could, dancing around the altar. But nothing. No one answered.

“Do you think he’s away? “ Elijah taunted. “Maybe he’s on vacation. Or maybe he had to go to the bathroom.”

Finally the prophets got knives and cut themselves until their faces, arms and legs were covered in blood. They thought that would bring Baal, who liked the smell of blood. But nothing happened.

When it was time for the traditional evening sacrifice to Yahweh, Elijah told everyone to come watch him.

Elijah had gallons and gallons of water poured all over his bull, sticks and stone altar until the water ran everywhere. There was no way anyone could light that fire. What was he thinking?

Then Elijah prayed, “O Yahweh, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, O Yahweh, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Yahweh, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.”

When he finished praying fire from Yahweh fell. It burned up the bull. It burned all the sticks and the stones of the altar. It even licked up the water. Nothing remained, not one drop of water. The people fell down and worshiped Yahweh. And the bogus prophets ran away in fear. A few hours later it started to rain hard.

Once in a village just outside Jerusalem Jesus stood in a contest. The people could not decide who he was, even though he had told them. So he stood outside the tomb of his friend Lazarus who had been dead for four days. There was a large crowd, and when Jesus asked for the door to the tomb to be rolled away, everyone expected a horrible stench to come out.

But Jesus prayed, ““Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”

Then Jesus yelled, “Lazarus, come out!”

The surprised crowd fell silent. But the silence was pierced by the joyful shrieks from Lazarus’ sisters as they ran to embrace him.

Some persons standing there believed in Jesus, that he was the Messiah, the Son of God. But the sad thing is, others didn’t. And some even plotted to kill Jesus, which they did.

We all have to choose to whom we pray. And it matters.

God says to us, “Call on me in a day of trouble; I will rescue you, and you will honor me.” (Psalms 50:15 ,CSB)

I hope you will read the details of these events. Click here for the story of Elijah (1 Kings 18) and here for the story of Jesus and Lazarus ( John 11.)

You may wonder if God is still doing amazing things today. I recommend these books: The Case for Miracles by Lee Strobel and Miracles by Eric Metaxas.

Why Pray?

How many persons can you name whose prayers are recorded in the Bible? Stop now and make a list. Then note where and why they prayed.

STOP NOW and make your list.

Did anything about your list surprise you? Maybe you are surprised by how few prayers you can remember.

I can help you. In the Bible the first person who prayed was Adam: then the man (Adam) said, “This at last is bone of my bones!” Prayer is talking to God, and Adam is expressing his delight with Eve to God. I am sure Adam is talking to God, because there is no one else there. Our prayers, too, can be spontaneous exclamations of joy or sorrow.

Here’s another famous prayer story: Daniel in the lions den. Did you know Daniel was thrown in the den of hungry lions because he was praying and giving thanks to God? Then it was the King, who threw Daniel in, who prayed the lions wouldn’t eat Daniel! You can read it in Daniel chapter 6.

See if you can guess who prayed this: “In my distress, O LORD, I called to you, and you answered me. From deep in the world of the dead I cried for help, and you heard me.”

Give up? Here’s another hint: “The water came over me and choked me; the sea covered me completely, and seaweed wrapped around my head.” That’s right; it’s Jonah. Who else would be praying with seaweed around his head?

As you can see, we can pray any time and our prayers can express, joy, thankfulness, desperation and terror.

And we can pray anywhere. Jesus prayed publicly and he prayed alone. (see my blog on praying in secret.) Even in our noisy world we can get with God and talk. Susanna Wesley, mother of Charles, John and a bunch of other kids, was known for praying with her apron thrown over her head so she could be alone with God and pray.

Pray because you are thankful. Pray because you are loved.

Pray because you are lonely; God always listens.

Pray because God invites you to: “Call to me when trouble comes; I will save you, and you will praise me.”

Pray because God cares for you. ”Praise him, you servants of the LORD!……He does not neglect the poor or ignore their suffering; he does not turn away from them, but answers when they call for help.”

Scripture references: Genesis 2:23, Jonah 2:2, Psalms 50:15, Psalm 22:23