{"id":211,"date":"2012-03-01T10:15:59","date_gmt":"2012-03-01T15:15:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=211"},"modified":"2012-03-15T10:18:46","modified_gmt":"2012-03-15T15:18:46","slug":"praying-sincerely","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=211","title":{"rendered":"Praying Sincerely"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Thursday of 2nd Week in Lent<\/o:o:p><\/span><\/h2>\n

Esth C 12, 14-16, 23-25; Mt 7: 7-12<\/o:o:p><\/span><\/h3>\n

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Can you imagine?\u00a0 <\/span>Just imagine prostrating yourself on the ground from morning till evening and praying over and over again.\u00a0 <\/span>That\u2019s what Esther did, and for a good reason.\u00a0 <\/span>She was in mortal anguish because the enemies of her exiled Israeli people had gotten the King to issue a decree to wipe out, exterminate, eliminate, all of her people.\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

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Now the King was Esther\u2019s husband.\u00a0 <\/span>So if anyone could do something, it would fall to her.\u00a0 <\/span>But she knew that, above all, the King was a man of his word, and would have to keep his decree.\u00a0 <\/span>Thus, the prayer.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

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So, just how does Esther\u2019s experience relate to the advice Jesus gives in the Gospel.\u00a0 <\/span>Jesus says- \u201cAsk and it will be given to you\u201d.\u00a0 <\/span>Ah, yes, all we have to do is ask.\u00a0 <\/span>How does Esther ask in her prayer?\u00a0 <\/span>There is no question of her Faith as the Book of Esther attests; there is no question of her legitimate concern- the future of the Israeli nation was at stake; and there is no question of her sincerity- her prayer was earnest and from the heart.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Now notice that she doesn\u2019t pray for direct intervention from God.\u00a0 <\/span>Rather, she prays that the Lord would work through her words to achieve her end, the saving of her people. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Fortunately, her prayer was answered, and if you read the book of Esther, you will see how clever her solution was-\u00a0 <\/span>or should I say, how clever God\u2019s inspired words were.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

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Don\u2019t we sometimes find ourselves feeling like Esther- frustrated, in panic, and in mortal anguish, as the roadblocks of life are thrown at us?\u00a0 <\/span>We are being tested; and the Lord is looking for our response.\u00a0 <\/span>We would do well to pattern our response after Esther\u2019s.\u00a0 <\/span>First, she had a relationship with the Lord. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>She was righteous and loved the Lord before this trial.\u00a0 <\/span>That\u2019s why prayer came to mind- not as a last ditch effort, but because her Lord was always important to her.\u00a0 <\/span>In other words, she was a woman of great Faith.\u00a0 <\/span>Second, she prayed with sincerity and piety.\u00a0 <\/span>That comes out loud and clear in the reading.\u00a0 <\/span>Third, she prayed for something that was good in the eyes of the Lord, to save her people.\u00a0 <\/span>That can be hard on us, because what we want is not always what God might deem best for us.\u00a0 <\/span>And yet, Jesus says that God will not give us a snake when we ask for a fish.\u00a0 <\/span>So, whatever the answer to our prayer is- be it \u201cyes\u201d or \u201cno\u201d, we need to be open that it is God\u2019s will for us.\u00a0 <\/span>Next, she prayed that God would give her the words for her to move forward.\u00a0 <\/span>And that is important- because we need to be involved in the solution.\u00a0 <\/span>We need to let God work through us, so that God is walking with us through the thick and thin of it.\u00a0 <\/span>And lastly, she was persistent.\u00a0 <\/span>She kept after God all day and into the evening.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

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When you pray in the face of tragedy, remember the example of Esther.\u00a0 <\/span>Because God loves you, and always does the best for you when you pray sincerely.\u00a0 <\/span>And your prayer, like Esther\u2019s, will be answered.\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

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Thursday of 2nd Week in Lent Esth C 12, 14-16, 23-25; Mt 7: 7-12 \u00a0 Can you imagine?\u00a0 Just imagine prostrating yourself on the ground from morning till evening and praying over and over again.\u00a0 That\u2019s what Esther did, and for a good reason.\u00a0 She was in mortal anguish because the enemies of her exiled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[118],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}