Cash and Carry Please

I have recently been getting an education about prayer. Be it my bible study class or Sunday sermon, or simply a saint trying to answer my questions about the power of prayer. I’m finding ‘thank you’ is probably as powerful a verse as any. If I’ve got this right, blessings abound at birth. Life in its very essence is a gift from God to everyone, while everlasting life is also a reality given the blood contract signed by Christ.

If this is true then most of us spend our time, yours truly included, praying for the wrong things. We wind up asking for help out of this situation or that one. We pray from crisis to crisis. Our prayer relationship with God then evolves into one where we use Him like a credit card or rather an ATM card. As I read and learn more and more all that we desire and all that we need has been laid up for us by a God who loves us. Jesus died for us to insure our eternal inheritance and then there’s the Holy Spirit through which we can access that which is already ours.

Faith seems to be the barometer of success here. If you truly believe then you must recognize this is not the real world. It is that part of the journey that is measured in time based on how long the body lives. So therefore life, eternal life is there for the asking by acknowledging Roman 10:9 “That if you confess (pray) with your mouth, Jesus is Lord: and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth (prayer) that you confess and are saved.”

Hence I believe prayer should let God know from your heart to His that you really do believe in Him and therefore His word. That belief then sets the table for appreciation, honor and above all else, love. It sounds simple enough but only God knows if you truly mean what you say. He knows what’s in your heart. To someone who has given you life and promised it eternally, requiring, only that you believe, must be given all praise and honor and glory. That being the case, then this is a good day. I am blessed.

Prayer then is an acknowledgement of my birthright. It is my acceptance of the agreement of the covenant established by Jehovah and signed by Jesus Christ. It gives me access via the Holy Spirit to the riches of the kingdom. I don’t know about you but ‘thank you’ does seem to be in order. Thank God for all I have and all that I am. Thank God for all that I will have and all that I am. Thank God for all that I will have and all that is awaiting me. More importantly thank God for the wisdom to handle my problems and deal with my pain. Thank God for my soul salvation and through grace for allowing me to get a glimpse of who I really am in His eyes. Once prayer corrects your attitude, life looks a little different and you can then become a cash and carry Christian.

May God bless and keep you always,

James