Prayers That Work

"The angel answered, ‘Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God." Acts 10:4

I only share this one verse to make you curious about who is talking to who here and what about.The angel is talking to Cornelius, a centurion from Caesarea. If you want to read the biblical account you can find it in Acts 10:1-8. Cornelius had been praying for answers to his questions. The passage says people as he travels about serving the Lord. Cornelius was hungry for the truth. He desired more than anything to know the deeper meaning of the Way and was earnest, sincere and diligent. God hears Cornelius praying (He hears all of us praying) and answered him through an angel.

Let me go out on a limb here and say that God is looking for partners. People who share His purposes and who want to know what God desires. Sometimes we are so inclined to ask God about our desires, we forget to seek His. At least we should desire what He desires. Cornelius does. He is connected with God. God cares about the poor and His desire is to help them. When we help the poor we connect with God and His desire. Are you catching my drift here? If we want to get close to God, we should consider what is close to His heart. Wow, what a concept. We tend to be mostly attuned to our station in life and not His. He may be on a little bit different wavelength. So when Cornelius prays, he is already close to the heart of God. When you pray, if you have to come a long way, such as in getting yourself extracted from this world, or off of yourself, it may take awhile to connect and to get on at least a similar page, or in the same Book. All of us need God especially when we really need Him. But are you connected to Him on an ongoing basis? Good question. If you stay in touch, you don’t have to get back in touch. Even though Cornelius doesn’t have a lot of answers. Even though he has a lot to learn. His heart is definitely in the right place. It is pretty hard to go to God when your heart is messed up or divided. That may be when we need Him most, but we shouldn’t be so surprised at the distance we create and the time it sometimes takes. God sends Peter to Cornelius. Pretty cool huh? He sends an angel to tell him to ask for Peter. God is going to put these two men together for more than one reason. You see, we can learn from Cornelius, his dedication and his generosity, his obdience and hunger for the truth.

Are our prayers more of a memorial offering or a laundry list? The next time you are praying in the middle of your most recent ‘brain check’ or ‘gut check’, maybe a ‘heart check’ would be in order. I recommend hanging out with God and doing “God stuff”, so when you need Him, you don’t have to doubt that He is right there.

With His Grace,
Pastor Fred

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