Epiphany #6: Ask and Ye Shall Receive
I had lunch with a dear friend and mentor last week, and mentioned to him over our lunch that I felt lately my prayer life had been lacking – that it had felt “unproductive, like a desert – dry and sandy”, and that feeling had really had an impact on my desire and the regularity of my prayer time. His counsel to me was that sometimes God entrusts us with His silence and space. He also recommended I acknowledge how I felt to God, and simply ask: “Lord, teach me again how to pray”.
That seemed to be pretty sound and simple advice, so I took it to heart and have done so over the past few days. Still silence – seemingly only echoes of my own voice have been present as I asked God to again teach me to pray.
Enter last night… our first Ambassadors 2011 group meeting. (Great meeting, great people – I felt stretched and pushed; enjoyed it tremendously.) The big take away for me from the night turned out to be the book that was handed out as our first month’s book study/homework ["Too Busy Not to Pray", by Bill Hybels]. The first chapter, talking about how unnatural prayer is for hard-chargers like me, and how Bill overcame a similar dry spell really spoke to me in a huge way. How could our group leader/mentor have possibly known what I have been going through? He didn’t. He couldnt have; I’d never met him before!
Major take away for me is that I should never be surprised that when I ask God for something, and that something is a request prompted by the Holy Spirit, he will absolutely deliver. Coincidental? I highly doubt it. It seems more than a little suspect that there would be so much “coincidental” stuff going on these days.
Ask and Ye Shall Receive. God promised it. God delivers on His promises.
