For the last few years, along with many others, I have prayed often for our nation. It is easy to see that there is a hunger and a thirst for God in our lives.  So many are lost, lonely, desperate, and hurting. His presence and touch on us all is sorely needed.

There are those who sense that presence or touch in a myriad of ways.  But there are also those who do not.  They are starving for connection, but they have no idea exactly what connection they are seeking or longing for.  With many others, I pray for these people, too.  And for all those who have no one to pray for them—the forgotten ones.

We know our mandate is to love one another—our loved ones and strangers, our friends and enemies. After all, it is easy to pray for those who think like us, behave like us, and want the same things we want.  It is harder to pray for those who do not, and yet those are the people who most need our prayers.  Not to make them like us or to fit into the box we think we they should fit in.  But to connect and feel God’s presence and touch, to fit into the box He created them to fit in. 

We are born with a purpose.  All of us.  And with our limited perspective (even the most informed among us have limited perspective to God’s ways and plans), we often have issues identifying our own purpose much less that of others.  God’s perspective is absolute and perfect for everyone.

I know that sometimes it’s hard to love other people.  Sometimes it’s all but impossible for us to love them with our limited view.  But we can always pray for those people and ask God to touch them in their lives and guide them to the place He wants them to be, doing the things He wants them to do.

Not long ago, I was asked, “What is the most important thing anyone can do for themselves, their families, and their country?”  My answer was swift and solid.  Pray.  We fall short, leaning to our own understanding, relying on our own judgment.  We’re human.  We don’t see or hear or know all.  But God does.  So, the best we can do for another is to lean on His understanding, His wisdom, His judgment, and His loving heart. 

I am comfortable with this approach because He can be trusted to keep His word and experience teaches, He always has everyone’s best interests at heart.  God can solve the problems and challenges and issues we cannot.  But we must ask Him to do so.

God gifted us with free will.  He will not violate that.  I believe this is why before healing, Jesus asked those people what they wanted from Him.  In other words, He was making sure that healing is what they wanted and not just what He wanted for them.  He was asking them for their permission to heal them.  So that He did not violate their free will.

When I pray, I declare, decree, and receive what I’m praying for. I praise God for it.  Why do I pray this way?

To express my faith that my prayer will be uttered with no doubt of it being heard or addressed.  Jesus told us to ask anything in His name without doubt and it would be done.  The part it took me years to grasp was receiving.

When we receive, we are attesting to and affirming our free will choice.  For years, I thought I was too blessed to bother God with my issues.  He had more important things to do.  But over long periods of studies and experiences, I learned that God wants this relationship with us, and when we seek Him, we are not bothering Him or keeping Him from more important work.  He hungers for a connection and a relationship with us as much as we do for Him.  

There’s a lot of bad news in the world right now.  A lot of things that seem upside down or inside out and just plain wrong.  We do what we can, but these problems are so big that they’re beyond us.  But they are not beyond Him.

I often pray 2 Chronicles 7:14:  And if my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.

Sometimes we all feel overwhelmed and as if nothing we do makes a difference.  But prayer does make a difference.  I daresay, the most difference.

Evidence of it is in Asbury right now.  What started out as a simple prayer service on a college campus has just kept going and going.  Generation Z is awakening to God, praising Him and seeking to draw near to Him.  This service has grown to a revival and is well into its second week.  There’s no agenda, no begging news teams to cover it.  Just people gathering to minister to Jesus, to praise God.  And the impact is profound.  People are coming not just from all over the country, but from all over the world.  There are thousands there and the revival is spreading to other campuses.  One report said 20 other campuses so far, and it’s growing.

Watching the videos of what is happening there is powerful.  Hopeful.  It serves to remind us that God is everywhere, and with Him so too are miracles that restore our hope, feed our faith—and those who are starving and thirsting for God in their lives.

Asbury is praying for our nation.  While not there, I pray in agreement with them.  And I hope you are, too.  Indeed, a sign that miracles are everywhere.

Blessings,

Vicki