I am spending much time in God’s presence through prayer. I speak to Him with thanks for His blessings in my life (family, friends, opportunities, resources, etc), I seek His guidance in my life’s decisions through understanding, clarity and deliverance, I praise Him for my salvation and the promise of everlasting life in Heaven. I request of Him safety, peace and grace for the people in my life, and lastly I seek His powerful support in my life’s troubles. I truly feel a presence when I speak to Him. I don’t spend my time memorizing prayers but simply speak to Him as a friend and mentor. And how you pray and what you pray is absolutely between you and your creator. I just want to acknowledge the comfort I feel when I simply have a conversation with Him.

I did some research early this morning seeking clarity regarding prayer and I found what I thought was a contradiction in the Word. I am learning that there really are not contradictions in the Bible and that sometimes you have to dig deeper in the Word to determine true understanding and clarity.

The verses I placed in the attached image are the result of what I have determined. Now as I have stated many times I am simply sharing what I am learning. This makes me no expert on the subject. In one verse (Matthew 18:19-20) it says to pray publicly and in another it says to pray privately (Matthew 6:6). What I am understanding is that when I need to have a one on one with God for a personal burden or concern I should do so in private. Spend intimate time in prayer without distraction or self promotion to others. Pray with intent rather than pray “like a hypocrite who loves to pray publicly where everyone can see. (Matthew 6:5)” In other words do not let your prayer simply be a facade to or to seek praise from others that you are a person of faith but rather keep the focus on your own relationship with God. The time to pray publicly is when we stand together with a mutual desire for God’s will and grace for a situation or when we as a group simply want to praise Him. We can all agree that there is “power in numbers” as we use this analogy often in fighting for a cause or a specific result for the common good. So therefore it would make sense that there is power in prayer through that same power in numbers.

The additional verse that I included is Matthew 10:32. To acknowledge Jesus, to acknowledge our faith. I believe this is important as it is obvious Jesus is under attack. I have learned through some research that in the 1950’s nearly 90% of Americans believed in God. Today it is estimated that 62% of Americans believe in God and by 2080 only 34% will believe in God based on the trends thus far. I believe this lack in faith is because Christians are becoming closeted and not portraying their faith publicly. It is what took me so long to seek true understanding. I seen faith most often on Sunday mornings. Come Monday morning it was not very visible therefore an afterthought. So I myself placed very little emphasis on God through my day to day activities. So here is where I am going with this. If my understanding is correct God looks with favor when we pray as a group as He also looks with favor when we pray privately. And that time of privacy is important for our bond with God. As for publicly it is an opportunity for our voices to be louder and our faith to be strongly visible. So here is a challenge…we see many many instances of tragedy, hurt, sorrow, struggle and despair through social media. And social media is certainly a place that we reside as a group even if we are in each of our own homes. Many wonderful people will respond to those posts with “sending prayers” which I believe are sincere statements but we should take it a step further. Let’s actually pray together. Type out your prayer for others to acknowledge and repeat. Show our faith through our words. God is all knowing and all SEEING. As crazy as it sounds God is on Facebook! Let’s overpower the hate and negativity on social media with a solid portrayal of faith and confidence in God’s willingness to answer our prayers. For without God even Facebook would not exist.

Heavenly Father thank you for yet another day of life. I pray for the sorrows and tragedies others may experience today and ask that you bless them with your grace. I pray that those of us who know You will come together in person or through social media and seek your presence through prayer. I pray that we can overcome hatred and negativity through love, forgiveness and understanding so that we too may be a light to others. I thank you for allowing us to communicate with You through prayer. In the name of Jesus Amen.

The last thing I would like to mention is let those numbers sink in. Currently approximately 62% of American’s believe in God. That is approximately 205.8 million people just in the United States. What do you other 38% believe and why? Based on what? Please do not take that as a judgemental question. I promise it is not. I am truly curious. Because even before I realized I needed a stronger relationship and committment with God I knew He existed. I have known since I was a child attending Sunday school and Awana. And as a young adult I could simply look at the awe of the world and realize our creator existed. I just didn’t realize the priority of God over the worldy activities. I did not realize the dire importance of salvation. Have a blessed day!