Getting Psyched About Prayer

My daughter and I were pretty psyched, we’d finally arrived at Cedar Point in Ohio. And for roller coaster lovers it’s a great park to visit.  One of the things we were so enthused about was at the time they boasted the highest coaster in the world ! And we were going to ride it, that is until I saw it, ha !!  ” Oh bummer”, I told my daughter, “look how long that line is” ! Part of me wanted to ride it, part of me was glad the line was as long as it was !! Designed like a high speed dragster, it would shoot up to the top with one mighty thrust over 400 feet  it would about stall as if it wasn’t going to make it. Someone near us said they’d seen it not make it before and you came down backwards, every inch of those 400 plus feet too.  “Gulp” !  For the first time in my life, a coaster put some fear into my aging 40’s heart !  Nonetheless we had a great time and enjoyed the park as the anticipation was worth it in the end (even though I chickened out on the big one that day) !

In the Qoph part of Ps.119 which begins with verse 145, “I cried with my whole heart, hear me O Lord: I will keep Thy statutes.” the psalmist intermingles much prayer with his words about the Word of God.  And as he comes to verse 147 he also says, “I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried: I hoped in Thy Word.”  What he means is he’s eagerly anticipating God to respond to his prayer and has every confidence He will, because he has honored the Scriptures.

We know the Bible teaches that if we tolerate sin in our lives rather than obey what God’s said that God won’t honor our prayers (Ps.66:18; Jn.9:31) but the converse of that is He will ! And that in itself, if you think about it, is very exciting ! To have every confidence that the God of all the universe hears us and delights to respond is exciting and encouraging to say the least.    He goes on to say in vs.148, “Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in Thy Word.”  There’s that word “prevent” again, so once again he’s enthusiastically anticipating God to respond to his prayers.  There were three “watches” then during the night (sunset to 10 pm, 10 pm-2am & then 2am to sunrise, roughly). So this was his way of saying he was eagerly waiting through the night until next day for the Lord’s answer.  He was too excited to sleep !!

Is there a need you have been praying for lately? Someone with a need you know? How about a major obstacle (other than a huge roller coaster)?  How about the needs at your church? As  you simply follow the Word each day and pray in accordance with its principles you can be truly excited about praying and seeing our Heavenly Father show Himself through YOUR prayers !!  Pretty cool and no where near as scary as a huge roller coaster !