Do you believe what you Pray?

Do I believe what I pray? My fist reaction is "of course", but do I? How many times have I prayed one way then prepared for the opposite? How many times have I prayed for a safe flight from KCI then worried the entire time. Or how about praying for rain then washing my car just hours later. Actually, that shouldn't count because that is a guarantee that it will rain.

What is prayer without faith? I once read that after you ask God for something, you should not ask for it again. The prayer has been received, asking again show a lack of faith. Before you start to draft your letters of discontent, I am not saying that I subscribe to that theory. Prayer is how we communicate with our Lord and Savior. As Pastor Sanchez said, it is how we have a personal relationship with Him. I don't know about you, but I repeat myself with my family all of the time. So repeating myself with God is just telling him whats on my mind that day. But what that statement has done is change my heart when I pray. I now know that if I never asked for another thing as long as I live, that God would give me what I needed. He always has and he always will. But we have to remember that what we need and what we want are two different things.

So that brings us to our 2nd point, which was be careful for what you pray for. I think we all know that to be true, but we never think it will be applied to us. When Kendyl was little, I would ask in prayer that God make me a better parent. Then do you know what He did? He turned her into a teenager. And not just any teenager, but a teenage girl!!!! What better exercise in parenting than 24/7 exposure to the roller coaster emotions of a 13 year old girl. But I can honestly say that I am a better person (and parent) for having gone through it. The point is, God rarely does the obvious and He certainly does not make it easy. There is no personal growth in easy and He has to good of sense of humor to do the obvious.

So, this is the point where everyone chimes in. What were your thoughts, concerns, and questions after the sermon? Post your comments below, but first some ground rules. Be positive, mom's rule applies here. If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. Be prayerful, pray before you post and remember that your comments will be seen by everyone. Yes, that includes God.