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“Waiting time is not wasting time. Waiting patiently in expectation is the foundation of the spiritual life.”
— Henri Nouwen

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Today is America’s National Day of Prayer, a day when the US government is required by its own law to remind us to pray.

But many of us have lost faith in our prayers. We’ve prayed, and things didn’t seem to change. We’ve checked the boxes, but it can feel like God’s checked out.

In Luke 1:13, there’s a moment between an angel and Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist. The angel says, “Do not be afraid . . . your prayer has been heard.”

You probably know the story, but there’s something subtle in the verb tense and context that suggests the priest Zechariah was praying for the redemption of his nation but had given up on praying for a child. He didn’t know that his prayers for his nation and his prayer for a child were one in the same.

This story, among many others, reminds us that God hears us when we pray for our land. As we pray big prayers for our nation, though, we would do well to remember that God has a way of answering these big prayers through what He does in and through our own lives, our own expectations, our own pain and process.

Luke 1:13 also tells us that God even hears the prayers we’ve stopped praying. He hears them because prayer is an outflow of relationship . . . not a religious duty. When a prayer leaves our lips, it journeys to the Father’s heart, where it grows and waits until its time has come.

Response

I promise that your words, groans, tears, and cries somehow participate in God’s plans for our world. So please, for the sake of both your family and this nation: pray. And pray with expectation. Don’t give up your hope, rather give God your words, whatever sound or form they may take.

Closing Thoughts

We are living in answered prayers, and I believe God is accelerating something beautiful in the earth today. Keep praying, my friend, for it is only through prayer that we come to see the miracle we’re living in and participate in the miracles to come.

Praying with you,

Addison

 

 

P.S. I heard a story about a lady who went into Barnes & Noble, looking for a book on prayer. She said out loud, “I need a book on prayer!” Someone who had just finished Words with God happened to be in the area, and he grabbed the last book off the shelf, introduced himself, and handed it to her. If you need a copy of your own, just go to Amazon or the Messenger Store.

P.P.S. God is moving in our nation. According to new research from Barna, 30 million more Americans are following Jesus today than in 2021, and young adults largely drive this surge in faith. C’mon!