Last night I was talking to a couple about the subject of prayer. What is prayer? Why doesn’t God answer my prayers? It seems to me people tend to place more faith in their ability than in God’s ability, so why pray?
We do tend to think about praying when a situation is out of our control. Initially we think that we can fix things and we try, but when we don’t get the results we want, we worry and fret; we get upset and frustrated.
What a waste of time and energy.
That reminds me of the following quote: Worry is faith in the negative, trust in the unpleasant, assurance of disaster and belief in defeat.
Worry is a magnet that attracts negative conditions. Worry is wasting today’s time to clutter up tomorrow’s opportunities with yesterday troubles.
There’s a song I sometimes sing, which goes like this, “Why worry when you can pray?”
But when we act as if we can fix or change things by worrying, the song we sing changes to, “Why pray when you can worry?”
Why trust God when I can be in control by worrying? What we are doing is placing our faith in our capabilities, which are limited, rather than drawing on God’s ability and power, which are immeasurable.
Jesus told His followers not to worry. He said that their Heavenly Father knew what they needed. He could look after them but their responsibility was to trust in him.
To make the point that worry is absurd and useless, Jesus asked the question, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?” The answer is obvious. It doesn’t help at all. In fact it usually hurts. Many people are sick today because they worry.
Friend, worry does not help at all. God can help; try prayer.
“Said the robin to the sparrow, “I should really like to know why these anxious human beings rush about and worry so?” Said the sparrow to the robin, “I think that it must be they have no Heavenly Father, such as cares for you and me.”
When we worry, we are saying that we have no one to turn to who can help us; we have to do it ourselves.
God the Father invites us to come to him to obtain mercy and to find grace to help in time of need. I want to encourage you to pray instead of worrying.
– Henry Klassen is senior pastor of Gospel Chapel in Grand Forks