Pray! The Lord Wants to Hear and Help.

The Bible tells us to pray. A verse as short as “Pray without ceasing” (I Thess. 5:17) summarizes our obligation to pray and implies the Lord’s desire to hear and answer our prayer. When you have great needs, pray. When you have small needs, pray. When you have big decisions, or when you have small decisions, pray. When you carry a heavy burden, or when you struggle with worry or fear or doubt, pray. When disappointment or sorrow pierce your soul, or when negative emotions begin to invade your heart, pray.

When you pray, tell it to the Lord. He already knows your condition, but He wants to hear you pour out your heart and make your request to Him. The Bible tells us in Hebrews 4:16, that because Jesus is our sympathetic High Priest that we are to “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

As you come to the Lord, cast all of your care on Him (I Pet. 5:7). Give it to Jesus in faith. He will take your heavy load. He will lift the burden from you, and He will work in your life to strengthen you and to deal with the issue in ways that only He can do.

We often miss this occasion for prayer. Instead of praying about troubling situations, we fret, we hide, we smolder, or we scurry to solve the problem in our way and time. Instead, tell it to the Lord, and then ask Him to work in your life and in the situation in a way that would glorify Him. I encourage you to read Psalms 38-43 this week and observe how David told the Lord his burdens, and then observe what David asked the Lord to do. We can follow his example and pray.