A Prayer God Will Always Say Yes To (seventh in a series of ten)

Today’s prayer is about answering the question: Why am I here, anyway? I’m sure you’ve heard people say everybody is special. Parents say it, teachers say it, pastors say it. Everybody is unique. And some people really are special – famous people, powerful people, rich people, Nobel prize winning people. But what about regular people? What about people like you and me? Are we special? What are we here, for

The stock answer is that we’re special because we’re made in God’s image, and we’re here to love and enjoy God, and that’s a good, solid answer. But....deep down, do you still wonder why you, personally, are here, and what is it that makes you special, if anything?

Think back to your conception. Can’t remember that far back? I’ll help you out. In that moment five hundred million sperm were competing for entrance into the egg. Only one sperm got in, then the way in was permanently sealed, and all those other sperm died. Think about it. You won a race with a five hundred million to one long shot. Not only that, your conception had only about a four day window to happen. So many babies never make it to term; in fact only about one in four do in this country. But incredibly, you made it. Statistically, your presence on this planet is a downright miracle.

No matter how many bad things have happened in your life, no matter how much suffering you’ve had to endure, no matter how many problems you’ve got stacked up right now, no matter how low of an opinion you have about yourself, you need to see this. You came into this world a champion. Your first day was a victory.

But it wasn’t an accident. Throughout scripture it’s clear that God had each person in mind even before the creation of the world. He planned you and chose you, personally, before the world began. God said no to all those other hundreds of millions of potential people so He could have you instead. And when He said yes to you, He said yes to everything about you. Your personality, the circumstances of your life, your looks...everything. You are handpicked. The question is, why?

Because God has a particular mission for you. There is something waiting for you that only you can accomplish. God designed you for this very purpose. It could be something big. Or small. Something splashy. Or hidden. It could be someone you will influence. It could be one dramatic event, or it could be a long series of events. Whatever it is, it will be profoundly important to the life of this world, and fulfilling to you

I’m not talking about realizing your dream. Your dream and God’s destiny may not be the same thing. But God knows the deepest desires of your heart. He knows what will give you the greatest pleasure and the most profound happiness. So as you dream and hope and plan, remember that God has something He’s planned for you since before the beginning of time.

So how do you find out what that something is? Ask Him “God, please show me my destiny.” Probably you’re not going to get a telegram. Much more likely, God will lead you to your destiny one step at a time. The process will shape you and make you ready for your destiny, as God molds you into the person you need to be to fulfill what He has planned for you.

When you pray “God, please show me my destiny,” you will begin to see situations differently. During one of those icky confrontation situations, you will be asking “What is God’s will for me in this? How will I glorify Him and influence this person for good?” During scary situations you will be asking “What is God’s mission for me in this? How will I magnify His name?” For situations that feel tedious or boring you will ask “What important thing has God hidden here for me, as I fulfill His purposes?”

This prayer takes patience, and perseverance. It takes courage and faith. But if you are willing to pray it, and do what God shows you, there will be no regrets when you come to the end of your life. You will know that you gave God the honor that was due Him, and fulfilled the destiny for which you were created from all eternity.

And even then, even after you’ve breathed your last breath, and your heart stops beating, even then the great adventure will not be over. Because when you open your eyes again, the One Who gave you life will say the words you’ve been longing to hear, that will give you a happiness far beyond anything you’ve ever experienced, “Well done, good and faithful servant...enter into the joy of your Lord.”


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These thoughts on prayer are taken from the Catholic author Anthony DeStefano's delightful book, "Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To: Divine Answers To Life's Most Difficult Problems."

If this post got you to thinking, please leave a comment and join the conversation

A Prayer God Will Always Say Yes To (sixth in a series of ten)

Everyone knows God forgives sins, and anybody who has spent any time in a church will have heard something about Jesus dying for us.

In fact, the way the Bible tells it, it is ridiculously easy to be forgiven. This is what Christianity is. It’s the reason for the cross and the resurrection. It’s why we have a Bible at all. To tell the story of God’s forgiveness and restoration the people He loves.

All you have to do is ask. Admit that you need forgiveness, and honestly want to try and not sin in that way again. But have you ever wondered if you are such a terrible person that God could simply not forgive you? Doesn’t God get tired of forgiving the same sins after awhile? Does He ever get disgusted and throw up His hands, like people do? Do we have the ability to disappointment Him?

The fact is God wants to forgive you more than anything, He’s looking for every possible reason to forgive you.

The key concept here is what’s going on in your heart. God knows how weak we are. We fall constantly. Some people commit the same sin over and over again their whole lives long. God knows that. He’s been watching people commit these sins for thousands of years. It’s not that He’s grown used to it, but He’s not surprised in any way when He sees you and me falling again and again.

If there’s a particular sin you’re having trouble with, and you commit it constantly and you feel bad about it constantly too, you’re probably having serious doubts about your ability to overcome it. You may feel, deep down, that the situation is hopeless. But don’t let that stop you from repenting and asking for forgiveness. It’s true that you can’t ask God for forgiveness while at the same time secretly cherishing that sin. You can’t ask for forgiveness if you’re not really sorry, that’s presuming on God. But if you’re very weak, and all you have is a desire to get out of this loop, that’s enough for God.

God also wants you and me to have the same forgiving attitude towards others, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” God will use with you the same measure of mercy you use with others.

Now if you’re the type of person who gets easily disgusted, or you are a critical person, or you tend to hold a grudge, then now is the time to repent of that. Maybe there are some things you just can’t bring yourself to forgive. Okay, start small. Ask God to help you forgive the person who cuts you off on the freeway. Ask God to help you forgive the person who brushes past you in the grocery store. The important thing is to develop a habit of forgiveness in these small ways, so you will become strong in faith to be able handling forgiveness of the big things.

If being forgiven is so easy, why don’t you and I go to God more often in confession? Well, sometimes it feels too easy, and it’s hard to believe He’ll forgive us. But more often, you and I are afraid to confront the sinful things in our lives because we think it’s going to bring even more grief, sorrow and guilt. People do almost anything to avoid pain, don’t we? So every time we identify something in ourselves that might bring us pain, we work hard at trying to pretend it isn’t there, or to cover it up, or to disguise it.

But the long term suffering that comes from stuffing all that down is far worse, in the end, than the pain of confronting it. That pain will always be manageable, because God will be there with you. In fact, in the end, it won’t feel like pain at all, it will feel like release, being set free.

There is great power in the words “God, please forgive me.” Not only will He forgive you, but He will clean out the wound, He will begin to heal you, and He will fill you with His own good, clean life. You may still have the consequences of the sin to deal with, but now you will also have the mighty power of God’s Spirit within you, to enable you.


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These thoughts on prayer are taken from the Catholic author Anthony DeStefano's delightful book, "Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To: Divine Answers To Life's Most Difficult Problems."

If this post got you to thinking, please leave a comment and join the conversation

A Prayer God Will Always Say Yes To (fifth in a series of ten)

Have you ever said to yourself “The stress is killing me, it really is?” Sometimes stress shows up in anxiety attacks – pounding heart, shortness of breath, that tight feeling in your chest, tunnel vision, dizziness, dry mouth. Anybody experienced one of those? Headaches, distracted thoughts, short memories, even shorter fuses, stress is bad news.

One of the most powerful prayers God always says yes to is “Please give me peace.” It is impossible to enjoy life, no matter how good it is, without peace within yourself. You can have youth, health, beauty, wealth, an amazing job, the love of your life, a wonderful family....but if you’re feeling stressed out then every day is a nightmare. On the other hand, if you have peace within yourself, then you can handle anything life brings along.

Most of us deal with anxiety and stress on a daily basis. We live in the information age, with noise all around us, the bombardment of t.v., radio, computer, cell phone, i-pods, the news, the weather, advertisements. We live in a tension filled, pressure packed kind of culture. You try to cope, maybe with healthy methods, maybe with not so healthy methods. What makes calmness so elusive today? Why is it so hard to find peace?

Because people have a mistaken notion about peace. Inner peace can’t be achieved simply through mental discipline, and it isn’t dependant on outside events. Inner peace comes through faith.

Real peace is from God, it is His gift. Real peace can’t exist apart from God because it is hart of His very nature. God brought peace and order to the chaos in Genesis 1. Peace and order go together. When Jesus commanded the storms to calm down He would say “Be still.” Jesus said to His disciples, “I leave you peace” and “My peace I give to you.”

How quickly will you sense God’s peace? That depends on how close your relationship is with the Lord. Since peace is His nature, and His nature fills the believer, then the question becomes, how much of your inner life have you surrendered to the Lord? Does He fill you? Does He occupy your thoughts, and direct the desires of your heart? Or are you holding Him at arms length, closing off parts of your inner life to Him?

The more of you that you give to the Lord to fill, the more you will sense His peace flooding your soul, that quiet, confident faith that pushes out fear, stress and anxiety.

Sometimes inner peace will be linked with outer change. Maybe there is a lifestyle issue that is causing you anxiety. God will show it to you. Maybe there is some unfinished business causing blanket stress. God will bring that up. God will give you peace, but He will give it you on His terms, sometimes helping you restructure, rearrange and rebuild your life to fit His perfect plan. Are you ready for that?

You see, when you pray “Please give me peace,” what God will give you goes way beyond emotions. True peace is union with God, being right with Him and intimately involved with Him.

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These thoughts on prayer are taken from the Catholic author Anthony DeStefano's delightful book, "Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To: Divine Answers To Life's Most Difficult Problems."

If this post got you to thinking, please leave a comment and join the conversation

A Prayer God Will Always Say Yes To (fourth in a series of ten)

I’ve been giving you prayers that God loves to answer, that He’ll answer every time, and with power – sometimes even before you’re finished praying them.

The first prayer was “God, please show me You are there.”

The second prayer was “God, please use me to help someone in need.” “God, please make me an instrument to carry out some important mission of mercy for you.”

The third prayer was “God, please give me courage.”

The fourth prayer is “God, please get me through this suffering.” Unfortunately there is no short and tidy answer for why you are suffering this morning. There is no formula for feeling better. Sometimes the ready made phrases we say to each other, when we mean well, actually make things seem worse –

“I know just what you’re going through” sounds empty sometimes, when what you’re going through is devastating. “Don’t worry, it’s all for the best” doesn’t help when it’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to you. “It’s God’s will” makes you want to feel angry and bitter towards God, and “You’ve got to stop crying and start living again” doesn’t sound encouraging, it sounds kind of heartless, like there’s a statute of limitations on hurting.

Though all these things may be true, they just don’t help when you’re experiencing emotional agony. When you’ve been in a car accident, you don’t need your doctor to explain to you why you’re bleeding everywhere, or to assure you that you won’t miss that arm after a while. You need your doctor to stop the bleeding, sew you up and help you heal.

God understands. Very often the last thing God will do when you and I are suffering is to explain the reasons why we’re suffering. That’s something He saves for later, sometimes much later. What He will always do, however, is help us to endure the terrible pain, and make it through in one piece.

God says yes to all who come to Him for help and comfort, when they are in the middle of something hard. He may not stop the suffering, or prevent it from happening in the first place, or alleviate the situation in any way. This maybe is one of the biggest stumbling blocks to faith there is, but you and I need to face it head on – God allows a lot of terrible things to happen. Just look what happened to our Lord Jesus Christ. He knew very well the pain He was about to suffer, and prayed “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup be taken away from Me.” At the eleventh hour, the Son pleased with the Father. But He also added “Yet not as I will, but as You will.”

No matter what kind of suffering you have to endure, God will give you a way through it. Not a way out of suffering itself, but out of the hopelessness that suffering often leads you to. The apostle Paul said God will not let you be tested beyond your strength. With your trial, He will also provide you with a means of escape, so that you will be able to endure it (1 Cor 10:13)

The Father sent His son an angel to help Him. God will also help you, and provide for you, to console you, help you and fortify you through whatever you are going through right now.

Death and suffering are not a normal part of life. They may be facts of life, but they are not “good” or “normal” in any way. Something went terribly wrong at the beginning of human history. Life was never meant to be this way, but because of what happened in the Garden of Eden, you and I suffer today.

But God, in the Lord Jesus Christ, suffered, too. He knows, intimately, what it’s like to experience what you’re experiencing, and because of the cross, He can make His power available to you, and to me. When you say “God, please get me through this suffering” He will actually walk with you through the pain and get you to the other side.

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These thoughts on prayer are taken from the Catholic author Anthony DeStefano's delightful book, "Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To: Divine Answers To Life's Most Difficult Problems."

If this post got you to thinking, please leave a comment and join the conversation

A Prayer God Will Always Say Yes To (third in a series of ten)

I’ve been talking about prayers God will answer all the time, because they are things He’s said He desires to give to us, and desires to do for us. If we search for Him with the earnest desire to find Him, God will make sure we do. If we want to be His instrument of love and mercy, and to help someone, God will show us who to help.

And if you and I are feeling afraid, then we can ask the Lord for courage, because it’s something He very much desires for us to have. Over thirty times in scripture, God says to have courage, to take courage, to be strong and courageous.

When you say to God, “Please give me courage,” you’ll find that one of the first things God will likely do is give you the nudge you need to start moving, to apply what He’s given you to do in His word, and through prayer, to follow the wisdom He’s shared with you.

Often times fear gets us to stop moving, and once you and I are standing still it’s pretty hard to get going again, we convince ourselves it’s too hard, it’s too scary, it won’t work, it’ll turn out bad. That’s physical, or emotional, or spiritual inertia. But the wonderful thing about God’s little nudge, is that once you and I get moving, even if it’s the tiniest little step, the next step is a little easier, and the next one a little more easy. That’s momentum!

And that’s just the start. Once God gives you courage, it doesn’t just end there. Your courage can grow every time you face what you fear, trust God, and do what’s rght, according to His word. Like all virtues, courage is a muscle that increases in strength every time you exercise it.

It takes time to overcome fear, There are bound to be setbacks, bound to be disappointments and so on. But every time you are willing to pray for courage, and use what God gives you, you will discover a bonus gift – perseverance. The apostle Paul said that God’s strength is made perfect in weakness. That’s because when we’re weak, we’re in a perfect position to receive abundant grace from God.

So if you’re feeling very afraid about something this morning, you are in a wonderful place to discover just how much God has for you, if you ask Him with the determination to put into practice what He gives you.


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These thoughts on prayer are taken from the Catholic author Anthony DeStefano's delightful book, "Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To: Divine Answers To Life's Most Difficult Problems."

If this post got you to thinking, please leave a comment and join the conversation

A Prayer God Will Always Say Yes To (second in a series of ten)

What prayer do you think God might answer the fastest, a prayer that is so effective you can get your answer sometimes even within the hour? In fact, handle this prayer with care, God answers it with such speed, consistency and reliability.

“God, please use me to help someone in need.” “God, please make me an instrument to carry out some important mission of mercy for you.”

Be ready. This person may be someone you know, a friend or neighbor or family member. Or they may be someone you don’t particularly like, or who doesn’t think too much of you. You may not know this person, but God will make you aware of your need, and His intention that you should help.

This has been God’s intention all along for His people – believers are described as being members of one body, with the Lord Jesus Christ as the head. God intends to take care of us through each other, and to bring love and mercy to the rest of the world through us. That’s what it means to be God’s hands and feet – we are ready and actively looking for people to go to and things to do for them.

When you and I pray this prayer we are really following the pattern that God Himself uses all the time. We’re modeling ourselves after God. God calls us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves – meaning to take care of each other as well as we take care of ourselves. Jesus said the world would recognize us by the way we love each other. “God, please use me to help someone in need.”

At the heart of love is self-giving, doing for others, finding joy in expressing God’s giving as He gives to me. This prayer ties into the essence of Who God is, God is love. We are really asking God to come into our lives and act through us. When you and I are serious about that, sincerely asking God to make us an instrument of His love and mercy to someone else, then the act of praying will become the act of loving your neighbor.

When you and I help someone we reduce the amount of suffering in the world, we become part of the process of God working things together for good.

Now you might be thinking “I need someone to pray that for me! I’m the one who needs help!” But here’s a really wonderful truth. Whoever loses her life for Jesus sake will gain it. No matter how many problems you and I have, there will always be opportunities for us to help someone else in some way, and we will discover there is real joy in that. When you get into this, you will discover that your problems will seem a little smaller, because you were God’s instrument of love and mercy, and lessened the suffering in someone’s life.

And you will also discover another aspect of the truth that what you sow you will also reap. If you sow to the Spirit, in love and mercy, and a willingness to serve, looking for ways to help others, that will also be your harvest in life.

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These thoughts on prayer are taken from the Catholic author Anthony DeStefano's delightful book, "Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To: Divine Answers To Life's Most Difficult Problems."

If this post got you to thinking, please leave a comment and join the conversation

Prayers God always Says Yes To

If you were to read through the apostle Paul's letters you would see him stopping at regular intervals to pray, to praise God and worship Him, and sometimes just to shout “Alleluia, Amen!”

Philip Yancey opens his book on prayer with this quote: “When a doctoral student at Princeton asked, ‘What is there left in the world for original dissertation research?’ Albert Einstein replied, ‘Find out about prayer. Somebody must find out about prayer.’”

Yancey goes on to explain that every faith has a form of prayer, every ancient faith, and every remote tribe enjoins deity in some kind of prayer. Prayer is universal because it speaks to some basic human need. According to the Gallup poll more Americans will pray this week than will exercise, drive a car, or go to work. But as Yancey began to interview people here’s what he discovered. People consider prayer to be very important. They pray every day. But for how long? Maybe 5 minutes.

He asked, “Do you find prayer satisfying?” ...Not really. He asked, “Do you sense the presence of God when you pray?...Occasionally, not often. Many of the people the author talked with found prayer to be more of a burden than a pleasure. They found prayer to be one of the most important things in life, so they felt guilty about their failure, blaming themselves.

Sometimes it feels like God doesn’t answer prayer. Why didn’t God cure my mother’s cancer? Why doesn’t God send me some money so I can pay these bills? Why hasn’t God given me a friend when I am so lonely? Why didn’t God save my sister’s marriage? What’s going on? In the face of all our problems you and I want to know why God so often seems silent. If God exists, and He’s really listening, then why doesn’t prayer seem to work sometimes?

In my continuing study of prayer, I came across a delightful book written by the Catholic author, Anthony DeStefano, "Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To: Divine Answers To Life's Most Difficult Problems." In this series of ten posts, I will take what I think is the best of what DeStefano has to say -- what continues to bless and enrich my own time of prayer with our Lord.

Prayer does work, all the time, but sometimes you and I are not asking the right questions and we’re not looking for the answers that God is giving. Sometimes the answer is something we don’t want to hear. Sometimes God says no when we’re at our most vulnerable. Sometimes God says no to us when we’ve been on our knees, pleading with Him in tears. It seems like God says no an awful lot, doesn’t it?

Part of the reason for these refusals is that you and I might be looking at prayer in a distorted way. We’re using the consumer mentality which has a list of things we’ve decided are good and we should have. So long as we have this mentality, we’re going to be upset every time God says no to a request.

God is going to give you and me what we need, not necessarily what we want. He has our ultimate good, our eternal good, in mind, as well as His glory and His ultimate plan for all creation. Every request is weighed against His glory, and this good.

So let’s look at prayers that God will answer yes to every time, prayers that really truly work, prayers that will always be for ultimate good, for spiritual life and growth, that serve God’s purposes in your life, and His plan for the world.

These prayers will meet certain fundamental spiritual needs that you and I have, they will never conflict with God’s will for us. God will always be happy and delighted to say yes them, and once granted, our lives are going to change.

Curious what these prayers are? I’ll give you ten of them, and the first one is:

God, show me You are there.

God says that when you look for Him, and you really want to find Him, He will make sure you see Him (Jer 29:13; 33:3) Philosophers have managed to prove God exists through logic – Aristotle, Plato, Descartes, Immanuel Kant, Pascal, and many others. Some of their proofs are famous. But in the case of faith, God is not an argument, or a concept. He is a living being Who desires relationship with you. The question is, do you desire relationship with Him? If you do, for real, then pray “God, show me you are there” and see what happens next.


If this post got you to thinking, please leave a comment and join the conversation