Sweet Hour of PrayerSample

The Privilege of Prayer

A man was driving along the road and saw an old woman carrying a heavy load. So, he decided to give her a ride and relieve her. But when he looked through his rear-view mirror, he saw the woman still carrying the load on her head. He parked the car immediately and ran to the back of the truck. “Why are you still carrying the load, Ma?” he asked her, and she said, “Dear son, thank you for the ride. You are carrying me, so let me carry the load”. It is easy to read this story and laugh or even rule it out as ridiculous. But a lot of the time, that is how we are with God. He has saved you, so give Him your burdens. The more we master the art of taking things to God and leaving it at His feet, the lighter we will be.

One of the greatest privileges that Jesus gave us is prayer. The ability to show up before God and pray is one of the greatest privileges of being a Christian. It is beautiful to know that because of Christ, we can come boldly and confidently into God’s Presence. Jesus assures us twice that He will do it if we ask for anything. The privilege of prayer is that you and I can come before God and ask. We can bring our hearts and burdens and lay them at His feet. Sadly, most of the time, we carry the things we have no business carrying. We worry about things we have no business worrying about. Why are you awake, thinking, and giving yourself a headache? The point is if there is something you can do about that situation, then do it. But after you have done all you can, go to sleep and leave the rest to God. The advantage we gain in the place of prayer is liberty. While we enter God’s presence bent under the weight of our burdens, we come out standing tall because we leave the burdens there.

God wants us to come to Him boldly, but we often look at the mistakes we have made and the mess it has created, and we run from God. The value of your life does not depend on the mess you have made. The value of your life is dependent on the price that Christ has paid. Stop seeing yourself in the light of the mistakes you have made. Start seeing yourself in the light of the cross and how much you are worth. Jesus died for you. When you do this, you can connect to what God has for you. Don’t beat yourself down. The value of your life does not depend on the mess you have made but upon the price that Jesus has paid.

We will deviate from our usual hymn today, but the heart is the same. Today’s hymn is a call to take everything to God in prayer. Pay attention to the words.

Hymn:

What a friend we have in Jesus,

all our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry

everything to God in prayer!

O what peace we often forfeit,

O what needless pain we bear,

all because we do not carry

everything to God in prayer!