Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—

• 1 Timothy 2:1

“To busy Martin Luther, extra work was a compelling argument for spending more time in prayer.  Hear his answer to an inquiry about his plans for the next day’s work: ‘Work, work from early till late.  In fact I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.’  If our view of the importance of prayer in any degree approximates that of Luther and Luther’s Lord, we will somehow make more time for it.”

• J. Oswald Sanders, Spiritual Leadership

I am going to have to take better notes when trivial things happen.  The other day, my wife and I prayed for something.  She had her eyes closed and was praying out loud, but I was driving.  As she finished her prayer and said ‘Amen,’ we drove around a curve in the road.  There was a break in the clouds, and the shaft of light illuminated something in front of us – a precise answer to the prayer that she had just finished.  One of my first posts ever, the second post maybe, was a story about her silly prayers, and this one was that trivial, but the sunshine breaking through the clouds to shine upon the answer was a special touch.  And my leaky brain just cannot remember the circumstances.  Was it that we needed gasoline for the car?  Was it that we needed a place to go to the bathroom? …  Does it matter?

I recently wrote about How the Spirit Speaks.  It talks about how God speaks to us in different ways, but we need to speak to Him.  As I entered a conversation with a reader about that post, he pointed out something that made me think further.  The closer that we get to God in our prayer life – that three extra hours of prayer that Martin Luther talked about for the busy day – we hear God’s voice so much clearer.  Sure, the best way to hear God’s voice is to read the Bible, and knowledge of the Bible helps to interpret whether the voice in our head is God’s voice or someone else’s voice.  But more time in prayer, maybe even praying over the Bible passage that we just read before bowing our heads, is a great way to start any day.

And be sure to ask for the strength to make it through the day.  Who knows?!  You might have that prayer answered with a break in the clouds and a shaft of light shining on the answer to your prayer.

Whether you read this on Thanksgiving Day (scheduled for Thanksgiving Day in the USA) or any day, give thanks and praise God in your prayers.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.