Saturday, December 29, 2012

Prayer is the Fixer


I was listening to K-Love on my way to work the other day and the DJ was talking to a dad about his best Christmas gift this year. The dad was sharing that his 5 year old little girl, Chloe, was undergoing her final Chemo treatment that morning. He shared how she had been diagnosed with Leukemia when she was only 2 years old. As soon as they learned the diagnosis, they followed the Bible's instructions and brought little Chloe to the elders of the church who in turn anointed and prayed for her. Within weeks the doctors declared that Chloe's tests had shown her cancer-free. However, the parents followed the instructions of the doctors to follow through with treatment to prevent any possible advancement of the underlying disease. 

This dad went on to say how the advancement of modern medicine is amazing. The things they can do to combat disease are incredible. However, he said, prayer is still the fixer. This comment stuck in my heart all day long. Prayer is still the fixer. He didn't say prayer is the healer or prayer is the provider or prayer is the liberator. Prayer is the fixer. I looked up the definition of the word fix. It means "To place securely. To make stable or firm. To secure to another".  Wow, when we submit our life to prayer, we are securing ourselves to the Lord and allowing HIM to make us stable and firm. See, we are fixed whether the healing manifests or not, whether the financial need is met or not, whether the miracle is seen or not. We are fixed because we are securely affixed to the One that walks with us through every trial, storm and tragedy. 


While I wholeheartedly believe that prayer changes things and circumstances, I believe more than anything prayer changes US. It draws us closer to the heart of God and puts us in a position to allow our will to line up with His will. Jesus Himself prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass before me. Nevertheless, not my will but Your will be done." Sometimes in our zealousness of prayer, we have this idea that God is somehow obligated to answer our prayers in the manner we deem best. However, if we enter into prayer asking God to give us His Heart and His Eyes to see our situation and pray for His will to be done and our desires to line up with His desires, we are not disappointed or questioning God's care for us when the outcome isn't what we initially requested. God knows best. Even the Bible reveals that we don't know how to pray as we ought. We need the assistance of the Holy Spirit to help us pray. 

I encourage you today sister, brother, whatever you are taking to the Lord in prayer, trust Him. Ask Him to give you His Heart in your situation, His Eyes to see the way He sees. Let prayer be your fixer. May your prayer provide a place for you to be securely stable and firmly planted in Him regardless of the outcome. I have committed in the coming year to allow my prayer time to be a place where my heart is acutely listening to His voice and an unassuming place of surrender to His will.

Romans 8:26 "In the same way the Spirit also comes to help us, weak as we are. For we do not know how we ought to pray; the Spirit himself pleads with God for us in groans that words cannot express."

6 comments:

  1. As usual, amazing! Sometimes we forget how to pray, or make it about just what we want. Prayer and thanksgiving, grateful for what we have on a daily basis....these are the important things. At the end of each day, I always pray and thank the Lord for all our blessings, both known and unknown, as well as thanking Him for everything that went right today. Sometimes we forget that just having our family together at the end of the day is a huge blessing in itself!!! Thank you for being you Connie!

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    1. Amen Monica. We have so much to be thankful for as you have said and sometimes we should just come into His presence wanting to thank Him and spend time with Him, not necessarily asking for anything. Thanks for your comment. Love you!!!

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  2. Amen and amen. I love this word 'fixer'. I never thought of it quite like that. God is such an anchor and this ties to PJ Parker's msg of this morning. I guess the Lord is reinforcing his message with yours, Connie. I love when we see and hear God's unified message through several sources. It just confirms to me again and again that He is alive. He is present. He is all-knowing. He is involved. He LOVES me.

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    1. Amen Lorene. I was just sharing with Jayne this morning how I was thinking so much about how the Lord was speaking to my heart for this blog this week and boom, so much of PoJo's message confirmed it in my heart. God is so amazing. Thanks for your comment. Love you!!

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  3. I literally read this at the best time I needed to read this + had a total God-moment during reading this. Thank you so much for sharing :)

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  4. Ashley, I am blessed to hear the Lord met you when you read this. That's what it's all about. Sharing with one another the love and counsel of the Lord and being an encouragement to one another. You are such a beautiful young woman of God and I pray your heart remains tender toward the Lord and that He will accomplish the great things He already has in mind for you and your life. Love you sweetie.

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