The Power of Praying - P. U. S. H.!

by AmazingGrace Coach

Fellow brothers and sisters, I would like to open the article series "The Power of Praying" with a story that gets passed around on the internet very often.

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"A man was sleeping at night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light, and God appeared. The Lord told the man he had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin.

The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might. So, this the man did, day after day. For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all of his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.

Since the man was showing discouragement, the Adversary (Satan) decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the weary mind: "You have been pushing against that rock for a long time, and it hasn't moved." Thus, he gave the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure. These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man. Satan said, "Why kill yourself over this? Just put in your time, giving just the minimum effort; and that will be good enough." That's what the weary man planned to do, but decided to make it a matter of prayer and to take his troubled thoughts to the Lord.

"Lord," he said, "I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged that rock by half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?" The Lord responded compassionately, "My friend, when I asked you to serve Me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all of your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to Me with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But, is that really so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back sinewy and brown; your hands are callused from constant pressure, your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much, and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have.

"True, you haven't moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom. That you have done. Now I, my friend, will move the rock."

At times, when we hear a word from God, we tend to use our own intellect to decipher what He wants, when actually what God wants is just a simple obedience and faith in Him. By all means, exercise the faith that moves mountains, but know that it is still God who moves mountains.

When everything seems to go wrong... just P. U. S. H.!

When the job gets you down… just P. U. S. H.!

When people don't react the way you think they should… just P. U. S. H.!

When your money is "gone" and the bills are due… just P. U. S. H!

When people just don't understand you... just P. U. S. H.!

P = Pray U = Until S = Something H = Happens"

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You might already have received this via email many times, and without a thought, you might already have automatically deleted it hundreds of times. But have you ever paused to ponder on the deeper meaning of this story?

Notice the very first paragraph of this story, the Lord appeared to the man and told him that "he had work to do". This was what Jesus told his disciples during his walk on the earth and before he ascended into heaven. They had work to do. This instruction or message has been relayed for nearly 2000 years to this day to you and me. We have work to do before the second coming of the Lord! So what work is this?

Put simply, "Pray".

The very first thing that we must recognize we are to do in the walk with God is "To Pray". Even if we don't do anything else, we still must pray. Praying should NOT be seen as a duty, but a natural element of living. It is a privilege, a channel that's reserved for every single one of us as humans. We have a direct line to God, through Jesus Christ. As we pray in His name, we know we're speaking directly to the creator of the universe. Our needs, our plans, our joy, our thanks, our grunts, our sorrow, our despair… every single thought or emotion, the Lord knows. He knows even BEFORE we pray, for He was the one who created us, and thus He had a plan for each and every single one of us. By praying, we are establishing this channel within us. We're acknowledging that He exists, and we KNOW Him as our heavenly Father. Just like we would greet our folks everyday, "Good morning!" "How are you?" "I love you!" "Night Night!", we would do the same for God. As we pray to Him, we're humbling ourselves and praising Him as the almighty power, and we worship Him in His glory. Just as any other relationships, this is the first process towards building a permanent relationship with God.

Why would someone shy away from praying?

Here, I would like to quote you what Stormie Omartian wrote in her book "The Power of Praying Together" (Harvest House Publishers, 2003). She gave a few examples of common difficulties we would find in praying:

1. "I'm not sure how to pray…"
2. "I don't do it very well…"
3. "I doubt if prayer really works…"
4. "I feel I'm not good enough to deserve an answer…"
5. "I see God as being distant…"
6. "I'm not sure if I'm praying in line with God's will…"
7. "It requires too much of my time to be effective…"

Are you one of them? I think we all could be one at some of point in our lives. We doubt ourselves, we doubt others, we doubt God. Should we not doubt? Yes, I think we should doubt, we should always query whether something is truthful or not, whether something is right or wrong, whether something is "in line with God's will" or not. No doubt about that! But that should not prevent us from praying. In fact, when we doubt, the first thing we should do is to pray to God. As we communicate to God our questions, our worries, our hesitation, our reservations, our fears… we're letting these negativity having an outlet - they are all going into the "In" tray of God's office. We're letting our heavenly Father know that we're troubled and we need Him. We're surrendering our big ego, we're quitting trying to take care of ourselves in our own ways, and we're letting the Lord have His hands on our matters. This is a very good prayer, and God wants us to go to Him when we're troubled. For He loves us and He wants to bless us in so many ways that they are beyond our imagination. But first, we must SEEK Him, through prayers.

Difficulty No. 1 as Stormie had pointed out, some of us are not sure how to pray. Well, Jesus gave us the answer loud and clear which was recorded in the Bible in Matthew 6:5-13 (NKJV):

"And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.

"But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

"And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.

"Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.

"In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen."

The last 5 verses have known to be the Lord's Prayer. Jesus, in teaching his disciples, was not reciting some mysterious prescription so we could memorize and repeat like a drone. He was giving us an example in how we're suppose to address and communicate with God. Obviously, if we mean it word for word what we're saying in the Lord's Prayer, then it indeed is a very powerful prayer to use on a daily basis. But what Lord Jesus was trying to demonstrate was a format, like a template or a framework, of how we ought to pray to God; and within this format, we put in our own contents from our daily experience.

Here it is in further detail. Jesus taught that we should address our prayers to the heavenly Father, and we should praise him for who He is. He reminded us that we ought to pray for God's will be fulfilled in our lives. He showed us that we can ask God for what we need on a daily basis, and at the same time to bravely confess our sins for God's forgiveness, and to come away from sinning again. He also showed us that we can plea for God's protection and help when we're fighting our daily battles with the evil source. These are elements that make up a good prayer to say to God everyday. The benefit of a good prayer is for us as much as it is for God. It is like having a good word with our fellow human beings so our spirits can be lifted, the same way works for our communication with God.

So dear friends, don't delay. Make it your goal that you start to pray everyday from today. Do it the "Jesus" way, acknowledge the Lord, praise him, and worship Him. Share with Him your daily existence, your every thought and emotion, your hopes and joys, your fears and sorrow. Let God be part of your daily life so He can begin to work wonders in all of your endeavors.

And watch this space for further articles on the Power of Praying!

God bless you. AmazingGrace

Copyright © 2005 Grace Lee, Milpitas CA

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