I love the ocean and recently I have spent far too much time away from it. The sea is often restless and it can churn and spew waves with reckless abandon. Many things affect the ocean such as the moon and its position in relation to the earth and the sun, but nothing drives it like the wind. The sea gets going when the wind picks up. Often thunderstorms come up in the ocean this time of year and when a boater gets near one it is amazing how the sea becomes near chaotic as a boat gets within range of the wind generated by one of those babies’.
The Bible compares those of us who pray without faith to waves being blown about by the sea. If you have ever witnessed this phenomenon this verse hits home. When we pray we should understand that God is listening and we should not doubt. He knows what we need before we ask, but He wants us to pray anyway and He wants us to pray with faith which means pray without doubting and with faith that the Lord hears and will answer our prayers.
I am quick to add that the answer is not always yes. Sometimes we pray for things that are not within the will of God, which means they are not good for us and God tells us no. Sometimes He delays the answer to allow time for other events to occur or for whatever reason He might have. This does not mean that He will not answer it, God always answers prayer.
We should pray with faith and we should be comforted to know that in addition to our own prayers, the Holy Spirit also prays for us in a powerful and spiritual manner of which we cannot comprehend. The Bible is clear that we must pray with faith that God will answer our prayers or we end up just like the waves described earlier being tossed about and churned away. We are told to be persistent like a neighbor knocking, knocking, knocking on our door until we finally get up and loan them a carton of milk.
Finally the Bible tells us to pray constantly’! I really don’t have a problem with this as I need a lot of help. When one needs help what better place to go for it than to God Himself? Amazingly He never tires of us coming to Him to petition, ask for forgiveness, thank Him, and seek reassurance, or whatever. Paul states we should come to Him with boldness and indicates that nothing is too small or too large for our God. We must remember not to doubt, or maybe we will just get tossed out like a wave being driven by the wind…
James 1:6
When he asks he must believe and
not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave
of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man
should not think he will receive anything from the
Lord.