What if you could change the trajectory of something just by using your voice?

What if I told you that we could?

“...the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” — James 5:16

I used to not prioritize taking time to pray because I didn’t feel like God could hear me and felt that I didn’t have much to say. Do you ever feel that way? Do you struggle with prayer? Little did I know, I was missing out on SO MUCH!

I love what 1 John says about God “hearing us:”

“And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of Him.” — 1 John 5:14-15

Though we sometimes feel as if He doesn’t answer us at the “right time” or the way we feel He should, we can trust that He hears us.

He hears our prayers. He hears when we cry out to Him.

Recently, I was worried about something that was coming up at work. It was something I needed to have done by the end of the week, and I was stressing about it. To be honest, it seems silly to me in hindsight: a catered dinner for my boss and some clients. I was consumed with all of the details. I was worried that I wouldn’t do it right or that someone would mess up and I wouldn’t be able to present it how I wanted to. It was Monday, and this task didn’t need to be completed until later on in the week, but I was anxious and couldn’t stop worrying about it.

Can you relate?

Then the Holy Spirit spoke to me...

“Why don’t you pray about it? Have you considered the power of prayer?”

I felt my anxious heart become still as I started praying about the dinner, knowing that as I prayed, I was releasing my worry and anxiety to the LORD. It was now in His hands and not mine anymore.

“Cast all your cares [all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns] on Him, for He cares about you.” — 1 Peter 5:7

God not only hears our prayers over a large situation or for someone else, but He cares about our small and seemingly mundane worries. Anything that makes us anxious, especially the things we feel we can’t control, He cares about.

God created prayer to be a powerful force in partnering with heaven in the small/everyday things of life as well as the big things.

He cares about our worried hearts because He cares about us.

We can practice prayer by taking our anxiety and worry-filled thoughts to Him right when we feel the fear creeping in. By doing this, we are giving God the burden and communing with heaven on the situation.

Prayer changes things. It is powerful gift, even in the mundane moments of life.

Love you girls!!

- Lauren Gilleylen, Communications Lead