1The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 2He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside quiet waters. 3He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. 4Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you have anointed my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Psalm 23 (NASB)
22“Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man.
Luke 6:22 (NASB)
What is a tool? A tool is something that sits in a box or a drawer, forgotten and discarded until you need it. Then, when something breaks, we reach into our tool box or tool drawer, rummage around taking stock of what we find there, until we see that old tool again. We take that rediscovered tool out, dust it off, and attempt to apply it to the problem at hand. Sometimes we must relearn how that tool functions before we can attempt to fix the problem with it lest we make the situation worse. More often than not as soon as we have what we think is a fixed problem we toss the tool aside and go back to what we were doing before the problem inconvenienced the plan of our lives.
How many of us look at prayer as a tool? Is prayer something we only dust off when the plan we’ve created for our lives becomes inconvenienced? Is prayer something we are uncomfortable with doing because we only do it occasionally? Is prayer something to be used quickly, succinctly and gotten over with so we can return to whatever we were doing? Is the fear of something happening or not happening the only thing that drives us to our knees to communicate with God, when we need something from him?
Do not take my last statement the wrong way, please. God does not mind when we ask Him for help or things. In fact, He wants us to bring those desires to Him. But, He also wants us to bring other things to Him as well.
Think about your parents for a moment, regardless of your relationship with them. If you only contacted your mother or father when you needed something what sort of attitude and reception would you get from them? Oh, they’d most likely be happy to hear from you but they’d be waiting for the verbal other boot to drop when you finally get around to what you need. Would they also like to hear from you when you have a good day, when you are lonely and just want to talk, when you had a pleasant memory of them, when you successfully used a skill they helped develop growing up, or any of a thousand other things that occurs in your life? Of course they would.
Our Father in Heaven is no different from earthly parents with one, vital difference. God is love. Regardless of what kind of relationship you might have with your earthly parents, God fervently desires contact with you. He wants, not just contact, but a closeness the likes of which no earthly parent can provide. He knows your heart. He knows your desires. He knows your fears. He knows you strengths. He knows your weaknesses, and still He wants to be close to you.
Prayer is not a tool to be tossed into a box until needed. Prayer is a conduit between you and the One who made everything. Use it when you’re happy. Use it when you’re sad. Use it when you’re confused. Use it when you’re bored. Use it when you are afraid, and yes, use it when you need something from God because He is anxious to hear from you. God wants that contact with you because He says You Are Worthy.
Oh, and call your mother.
This devotion relates to the scripture used in the book You Are Worthy by Mark Malcolm, coming to Kindle soon. To be kept up to date on the release of this, and other writings from The Cavalier, join us on Facebook HERE or follow us on Twitter @FirstChevalier.
You are not trash. You are not wasted. You are not broken. You are loved. You are pursued. You are wanted. Because God says…
