"look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand as you said. And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew - a bowlful of water. Then Gideon said to God, "Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew. " That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew."
Interesting reading isn't it? For some reason I had it in my head that I could petition God for a lot of things but putting God to the test never entered my mind because who am I to question or test God? But we think about it don't we and afterall can we really hide anything from God? Our Pastor preached on this very topic a couple months back and even then I wondered who Gideon though he was that he could put God to a test. Ahh, but then in a single moment while driving in my car God said "Get Real Heather".
I listen to a lot of people pray in groups or over a service and I think that they sound so "pretty" in their prayers. But that's not what God wants...he doesn't want our pretty prayers, he wants our heartfelt "real" petitions before him. I know he hears me all the time, even in times when I wish he wasn't listening because what I said whether in my heart or out of my mouth isn't always "pretty". Sometimes what comes into my head or enters my heart is just the opposite of pretty and can be quite ugly. In Ephesians 6:18 we are told to "Pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests."
Jesus set the example in Matthew 6 with the Lord's Prayer. "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." What I don't think are that many read the words that come before this prayer.... "and when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words." It's not about the words spoken, it's about the words coming from your heart to his.
I was struggling earlier this week, just feeling rather alone and struggling with some things going on with my life. Thursday morning I finally had it and as I usually do I began to pray on my way to work. I do so during that time for a couple of reasons, one, that stretch of road is crazy that time of morning!! and two, because it's quiet in the car and I can just talk with my Daddy with no one else around. I began thanking him for all the things in my life and asking him to touch those that have requested prayer and then he stirred my heart and I heard those words, "Get Real, Heather". It's not often I will pray for myself, why I have no idea, but I tossed all the "pretty words" out the car window and I began to petition God in a way I've not done before. I began to pray that I needed to see him show me that day in some physical way that he was present and had my life in his hands. I prayed that I needed to see in a tangible way that I was highly favored and prayed that he show me that I was going to be ok.
I went to a business luncheon later that day and there was a drawing being held where we all took a numbered ticket. We ate lunch and at the end of the luncheon the lucky number was to be drawn. As the announcer called out the numbers....I looked around the room and no one got up. Another ticket drawn and another number announced and still no one approached the stage. A third time and no one claimed the prize. The announcer decided it was best to flip the basket upside down and draw from the bottom. I listened to the numbers and was shocked to see they were my numbers! I had just won an iPad 2. In front of all those people I waited til I got to the front of the room and did a victory dance all the while smiling not just because I had won, but because God showed in a very real tangible way that I was favored and I knew then at that moment he was smiling too and was saying, "when you get real with me, I get real with you."
I'm not saying that you will all win an iPad or anything like that when you pray, but I am saying that when you get real with God he listens far beyond the "pretty words". You don't have to sound important and all knowing when you pray, you just need to talk to him like you know he's your daddy and you are favored. He hears you all the time in your every day talk, he's just waiting for you to talk with him.
What real talk do you need to have with God right now? Is there something that you think he doesn't already know? Are you trying to talk with him like you speak "King James speak" or are you talking to him like the father you know him to be? Is it time that you fleece God so that you can move on from the place you are today to the place he's calling you to be?
A final note today of encouragement is a song by Mandisa that I heard yesterday called, "What if we were real". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcLYkUb5Keo I pray that it ministers to you as it did my heart to Get Real.
Blessings,
Heather
