Prayer Reveals Beauty

After reading a little devotional about prayer this morning, I became overwhelmed with questions and thoughts.


The author defined Prayer as "an ongoing interaction between the material world and the spiritual world. It takes many forms. One of those forms is active, aggressive obedience to God's revealed will" (Kennedy Dean)

When one looks at prayer as described above, we can see that prayer is more than just words between Dear God and Amen.


"What is God's intent for prayer?
The Purpose of prayer is to release the power of God to accomplish the purposes of God. The purpose of prayer is to discover God's will, not obligate Him to do mine; to reflect God's mind, not change it. I could, through prayer, release God's power to bring about the best possible solution in every situation, because that is always God's desire. "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future'" Jeremiah 29:11 " (Kennedy Dean)

"Finding a new purpose for prayer is required to have an inner transformation. Changing my prayer focus from my own satisfaction and happiness to God's glory and eternal purposes would take a brand new heart" (Kennedy Dean).

"'I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws'" (Ezekiel 36:26-27) "... shaping my desires to match His. He promised to take my self-centered heart and fasten it on Him. And He worked in me until I desired to receive what He desired to give. 'It is God who worked in you to will... his good purpose' " (Kennedy Dean).

After reading these points, I began to wonder... "Okay God, I see the desires you have placed on my heart and I feel them in my daily life. I hope and pray that I can act on these desires you have placed in my life, but what do I do when I am alone in acting out those desires? Does that mean they are my own desires? Or do I not have the faith to speak up or step out in those desires? How much of my character influences my action? Am I really living out these desires and giving you the glory? Am I being changed by you in my prayers or am I trying to change you?


Afterward, I decided to read through a little of Ephesians and began to see many connections between my little devotional and this book. Later, I will write more about these verses and topics discovered in Ephesians and how they may connect with the thoughts mentioned above.