Murray Meditations: Joyful Assurance

Prayer and its answer--the child asking and the father giving--belong to each other. A. Murray

Have you ever lain on the ground underneath a tree and gazed up at the sky?  The sun streaming down on your face is dappled, sometimes strong and warm and at other times blue and hazy.  I love lazy afternoons spent in a contemplative state of mind.  Wandering around in the outdoors, with time on my hands, puts me in an attitude of bliss. 

Sometimes prayer feels like that shadowy movement on your face: yellow and warm at times and at other times blue and hazy. In those blue haze moments, you may ask "Does God really hear?" or you may even wonder, "Does He care?  Is He remotely interested in the things that are near and dear to my heart?" Please don't let feelings guide your prayer life. It doesn't matter how you feel. Rejoice in the truth from Matthew 7:8 "...Everyone who asks receives..." Everyone! Believe it or not, this is a spiritual promise that cannot be denied. We have the assurance from God that we can pray in confidence, knowing that He will answer.

Matthew 7:7-8
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Wow! My mind struggles to grasp the unbelievable truth that God not only hears all of our prayers, but is jealous for us to come to Him. He calls us to lean on Him, to rely on Him, and to know Him in such a way that when we turn to Him, His thoughts become our thoughts.

And yet, what of those times when we don't feel God has answered? What was amiss? Did we not pray in faith, did we not pray in God's will?

Photography by Trisha Fry

If you ask and do not receive, it must be because there is something missing or needed in the prayer. Hold on. Let the word and Spirit teach you to pray rightly, but do not let go of the confidence He seeks to waken in you: Everyone who asks receives. A. Murray

As we spend time with our Father God in our secret closet, we will grow to understand His heart. In this kind of intimacy, He transforms and conforms our desires to His nature and will.  In due time, if we persevere in waiting on the Lord for guidance, we shall begin to discern whether our requests are Spirit driven or selfishly motivated.

Let us not make the feeble experiences of our unbelief the measure of what our faith may expect. Let us seek, not only just in our seasons of prayer but at all times, to hold firmly the joyful assurance: man's prayer on earth and God's answer in heaven are meant for each other. A. Murray

Sweet Jesus, guide us into an intimate relationship with our Father God. Spirit of God, infuse our minds with the Father's love, so that we cannot help but return this love with every fiber of our being. In this communing of two hearts, may we become one of mind and spirit. And out of this oneness flowing the thoughts of our prayers; Your thoughts...our thoughts...Your will...our will...in joyful assurance of receiving an answer.