Prayer Changes Things

In Luke 11, Jesus says:

9 “So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 Is there anyone among you who, if your child asked for a fish, would give a snake instead of a fish? 12 Or if the child asked for an egg, would give a scorpion? 13 If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

One of the challenges of the praying life is that we don’t always get what we want. Though, as the Rolling Stones say, if you try sometimes, you might find, you get what you need. We deal every day with a world that disappoints us. Disease steals time and peace from us. Financial and family crises happen in ways that we can’t control. We know that we can always talk with God about them.

Prayers do get answered the way that we hope sometimes. I can’t tell you how hard I prayed for the air conditioner to work in the sanctuary before my wedding. It cranked up right as Jason and I were deciding whether we would have to announce a change in venue. But sometimes, our prayers don’t get answered the way we want. God is not a vending machine that delivers what we ask for. God is a loving parent who sees more of the big picture than we are able to.

In Luke, verse 13 says that the heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him. We need our daily bread. We need some sort of mental and physical stability in this world. Above all, we need the Holy Spirit, God at work in us and through us. Above all, we need the mind of God to help us understand our lives and what to do next. God gives us what we need.

When we can’t change the world, we know that God is with us. Through the Holy Spirit given to us in baptism, God is in us. When the outside doesn’t change, we can trust that God is at work changing us, making us more like God, making us ready to live another moment, another day, and for all time in the Kingdom.