Reaching out in faith

/ Joy Lenton

reaching out FMF PJ file image

Hearts, hands and voices reach out to God.

There’s a yearning, a desperate need to be heard.

To have our needs fulfilled.

And so often it feels like we come up empty.

Prayers appear to go unanswered.

Hopes are dashed.

We droop with disappointment and discouragement.

But could it be that we fail to receive because we fail to fully believe He will answer?

Missed careful study of His word to see what He has already said about this issue.

Been impatient, failed to linger in His Presence long enough to hear a response.

Or we’ve already worked out just how the answer will look, and This. Isn’t. It.

And in our haste to have answers, we can so easily forget that God often uses our confusion and pain to rouse us into deeper dependence on Him.

God has already spoken fully through Jesus, the living Word of God Incarnate.

He speaks still in hearts receptive to His voice and surrendered to His will and ways.

“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” ~ Isaiah 55:9

In pondering this, here are my best ‘five-minute-friday’ thoughts on ‘Reach’:

‘Reaching out’

Sometimes answers to prayer feel out of reach

no matter what we say, think, pray or preach

It feels like something could be missing

or maybe we’re not too good at listening

Failing to heed Your written word

or receive its wisdom seen and heard

Yet, there are many ways in which You reach out

with love and goodness in a whisper, not a shout,

Soft breaths fall as dew in the morning air

as manna drops to feed us, and to share

We are never left empty or alone

because in every heart You make a home

And Your arms were impaled, pierced to a tree

to reach out to all suffering humanity

Revealing Your forgiveness, grace and love

as they poured like wine from heaven above

So as we sit and ponder, rush and hurry,

there is really no need for us to worry

You hear and answer every prayer

with Wait, Yes, No, I am here

©JoyLenton2014

reaching out FMF poem pin file image

Linking here with Kate for #FMF (as we write freely for five minutes flat, with the joy of abandoning perfection) about ‘Reach’, and with Jennifer as we reach out to encourage one another and #tellhisstory in the process. You are warmly invited and encouraged to join in.

8 thoughts on “Reaching out in faith”

    • Yes, prayer unites us to God as we pray to the Father through Jesus Christ, His Son. We are encouraged to pour out our problems and concerns, and to intercede for the needs of others, as well as offer Him praise and worship. It encompasses many facets and approaches, with contemplation and silence as much as with words. It is a sign of God’s grace that we can come to Him with child-like faith and He rewards all who earnestly seek after Him.

      Reply

  3. “[W]e’ve already worked out just how the answer will look, and This. Isn’t. It.”

    So guilty. Thank you for this lyrical reminder. It’s easy to treat God like a vending machine. How wonderful He is when He gently teaches us who we are and Who He really is.

    Visiting from Five Minute Friday,

    Drusilla Barron (http://lovedasif.com)

    Reply

    • Hi Drusila. You are far from alone in feeling guilty as charged in terms of expecting certain types of answers to prayer! So often I write words that minister to my own soul as well as others, and this is one of those times. These reminders may make us gulp and groan but they also reveal how “It’s easy to treat God like a vending machine” and how good it is “when He gently teaches us who we are and who He really is” as you so insightfully put it.
      Thank you for visiting and leaving a lovely comment. Have a blessed weekend. 🙂

      Reply

    • Hello Constance. Thanks for stopping by! I agree with you that “sometimes he answers only with His presence.” And that brings us comfort in the waiting seasons. 🙂

      Reply

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