Dont Outsource your Prayers

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you."

Matthew 7: 7 (New King James Version)

How many of us knew the reference to this verse by heart ? :-) I remember when I was in New York , it was around christmas time and I wanted to pick up a tshirt for my brother . So I entered into this typical American brand store and picked up this nice tshirt for him. You can imagine my shock when I looked at the label and saw the words "Made in India' . What followed then on was me visiting a lot of stores only to find branded American clothes with labels 'Made in Burma' , "Made in Taiwan'

We live in this outsourcing age where work is shipped off to another location for cheaper labor , cost effectiveness , better management,...

Unfortunately a lot of us have this tendency with our prayers as well. Rather than sit in God's presence and ask Him and seek Him and knock , what we have cleverly arrived at, is a way for outsourcing our prayers. We tell elders , people at our church , websites to pray and we choose to sit back and relax.

Dont get me wrong , its wonderful to have people upholding us in prayers, infact its very necessary. However if we stop praying ourselves and outsource the prayers then thats wrong.

We think , "Oh my parents are praying for my marriage so I need not pray" , "Oh I know people in Church are praying ...I dropped a prayer request so I can sit back and relax"

Thats not it. We need to sit in His presence and seek His will . Ask for His strength and His grace to sustain us. Surrender to Him.

I have mentioned this before... Its a quote I read on a site a couple of years ago , "Prayer is not we changing God's mind to match ours. But its a time when He changes our hearts to match His". The joy of being in His presence is incomparable. As we seek Him and submit ourselves to Him we find our desires get in line to His will. Unwanted desires, confusions get stripped away.

We read in verse 8 , "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened."

Music Pick for the Day by Lenny Le Blanc

Down at Your feet, O Lord, Is the most high place,
In Your presence Lord, I seek Your face, I seek Your face..
There is no higher calling, No greater honour,
Than to bow and kneel before Your throne,
I'm amazed by Your glory, Embraced by Your mercy,
Lord, I live to worship You

God Bless