At the start of this New Year 2025 I just want to share a few observations around the Gift of Prayer that you might find both challenging and encouraging. Enjoy.
Thessalonians 5: 16-18 ‘Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you’.
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Prayer is a spiritual connection to God. He has blessed us in order that we may communicate directly with Him. When I take time to let that truly sink into my soul, it’s astounding! God the creator of this world wants to hear from me, from you – what a gift!
We can talk to God about anything, He wants to share our lives He is interested in everything that concerns us, even the little mundane things that we don’t think He will care about. At the start of each new day why not invite Him to walk with you, then listen to the nudges from the Holy Spirit, the difference will amaze you.
Philippians 4:6 ‘Don’t be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God’.
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God always answers prayer – not always in the way we want Him to or expect Him to, but always in our best interests. Looking back you will see this. Many years ago, due to my husband’s job it was necessary for us to move house.
We had two dogs, one of which was very badly behaved (my fault, I confess, lack of training and I had given her all her own way). She barked a lot and would escape at the first opportunity. We also had a young baby and house hunting was very difficult. Our wish list was to find a property with an enclosed garden and deaf neighbours.
I prayed and prayed for God to find this fictitious house. Our dog was full of life and using her voice and skills of escape to fill in the boredom of watching me pack boxes she would run down the garden to chase the wildlife, jump over three foot walls whilst barking at the sky, but I loved her.
Within a few weeks of my prayers concerning her, she suddenly became ill and couldn’t keep food down. The vet said she was too full of life for it to be anything serious, but he wanted to examine her under anaesthetic.
The news was awful, my beautiful, naughty dog had got cancer everywhere, her stomach, liver, kidneys, throat, I was shocked, horrified, and heartbroken and the vet never woke her up. I had to concede that God had answered my prayer.
He had addressed my concerns on how we would cope with her when we moved. It wasn’t in the way I had expected Him to, but it was in His wisdom, the best outcome. God discerns our circumstances and because He can see the bigger picture, He always acts in wisdom with our best interests being His concern.
Mark 11:24 ‘Therefore I tell you whatever you ask in prayer believe that you have received it and it will be yours’.
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God has made many promises concerning prayer but verse 24 is a difficult one to believe. Some prayers seem to go unanswered, but sometimes God simply says No! He doesn’t offer an alternative, that’s because He has given us free will. As we mature in our Christian walk, it will be easier to recognise and accept when God says No.
The next step is to ask our Father to show us a way forward and accept, when His answer is to wait. One of the fruits of the Spirit is patience. I have found that by including God in my decisions, He blesses me with peace.
James 5:16 ‘Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working’.
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This particular verse has great significance and relevance for me. In 2013 God did a tremendous physical healing in me. I was diagnosed with a cuff tear. This was my second one and required surgery in my right shoulder. It’s a horrible operation to recover from, extremely painful and debilitating, requiring a sling to be worn day and night for up to 4 months, including lots of physio.
At the same time the NHS Bowel Screening Test came through the door which had to be repeated three times. There is bowel cancer on both sides of my family and I have lost two aunties and a grandmother on my dad’s side to the disease and my mother having had it at the age of forty. I had also lost one and half stone in weight, plus the usual symptoms of dashing to the toilet with some urgency and showing blood and high ferritin levels.
Everything pointed to bowel cancer and so the next stage was to have a colonoscopy. This was planned three days before my shoulder operation. My minister and church family had been praying for me fervently. To be honest it was mainly for my shoulder, asking God to heal me without the need of an operation.
I was next introduced to my oncology team, talked through the possibility of a stoma bag and the expected follow up treatment. I came round from the anaesthetic to find the consultant was with me and said, ”I have never seen a cleaner, polyp free, lesion free bowel of someone your age, it looks like it’s been swept”.
There is no doubt in my mind who had swept it. Three days later I had my shoulder surgery. I woke up from this with much less pain than I had had with the previous shoulder operation. Yes I was on morphine, but the morphine hardly touched my pain previously. The operation took five hours and my consultant didn’t think I would ever have full use of my arm again, he almost abandoned the operation.
A few days after the surgery, during the night, I had a sharp pricking sensation deep inside the tissue. I remember lying very still and waiting for the numbness in my arm to wear off. I must have fallen asleep because when I awoke the next day, I had an unusual sense of peace and God’s presence was surrounding me.
The pain had lessened and I was able to move my arm much sooner and easier than expected. I recovered much quicker and much better than I had after the surgery on my left shoulder.
My consultant was delighted and confessed to almost giving up with the repair during the operation. God had healed me! I believe that the pricking sensation was Him completing the surgery that the specialist had struggled with. I believe this was down to the power of prayer.
It’s a mystery that we won’t understand, this side of heaven, as to why God sometimes chooses to heal and sometimes not. I believe that He healed me at that time because He wanted to strengthen my faith in order that I would rely on Him, the following years were very stressful with my husband’s health.
Colossians 4:2 ‘Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving’.
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God knows our heart, He knows what we want even before we tell Him, because He understands our needs. God has answered so many prayers for me. I see the wisdom of His replies as I look back and thank Him. When I talk to Him as I would a friend He uplifts my heart. God reassures me by His presence and I am never alone. God’s provision is unequalled.
In January 2021, my lovely husband lost his fight to Covid 19. It was a time that relatives weren’t allowed to visit, except at the discretion of the care home. Many lost loved ones without being able to say goodbye. The vaccine wasn’t yet available but testing was. My son and I were tested each day and allowed to visit him for the last week of his life.
Those visits were very emotional and our masks were constantly removed to wipe our tears. God not only provided access to see him, He also protected both of us from catching Covid 19. The hours we spent with him were invaluable for the grieving process and God in His kindness arranged this.
To conclude what a wonderful Father we have! There are many more stories of God’s goodness and the Gift of Prayer. Maybe you have overlooked some of your own. Prayer is a two way conversation, with a Father who loves us, who longs for a relationship with us and who blesses His children beyond anything we can humanly imagine.
Selah: (Pause to think calmly on what has just been read) and check out A Time to Worship
Carole Crossley
Explore to Inspire 