Matthew 6:6-8 "…6 But when you pray, go into your inner room, shut your door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not babble on like pagans, for they think that by their many words, they will be heard. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.…"
Ecclesiastes 5:2
If I never express another prayer to God for my children I don't worry, all the prayers over the past 50 years still count. One more time will not make God do my bidding, His will is in His timing and His purpose.
Sometimes we can become so co-dependent with someone that we think we must pray often for God to hear us concerning them.
Also, we pray with exceedingly intense emotions thinking that will motivate God to do what we want Him to do.
We must pray in God's Will as we are led by the Holy Spirit. All the repeated mantras in the world will not change God's plan or cause Him to force someone to love Him. He will never force anyone, He is the God who loves personal choice.
We all have a choice to follow Him or not, the consequences are dire for those who reject Him, but amazing and wonderful for those who choose to follow Him.
God wants our love, not our obligation to get something for ourselves.
Have you ever been served by someone who does it out of obligation to appease their own conscience, it is an ugly thing. The absence of love is clear and the lack of empathy is deafening. It is a sad existence when someone is infirmed and those who serve them do it grudgingly making those they serve feel like a burden to them.
Have you ever had someone do a nice act for you but it seemed empty as though they were doing it to elevate themselves? Over my many years of life I have seen these things and spoken to people who have encountered them, they all say the same thing, they felt the stress of being a burden to the one serving them. It made their illness a little bit harder to bear and diminished their joy.
Our joy never leaves us when we are infirmed but it can be pushed into the depth so as not to be felt when others lack empathy and kindness toward us and serve us out of obligation.
When we serve others we love to be a blessing to them, it blesses us to see them taken care of during the hard things in their life. We do not care about gaining any prizes or praise for our duty to our brothers and sisters, we love to help, it brings us joy to help.
Proverbs 29:8-10 "…8 He who sows injustice will reap disaster, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed. 9 A generous man will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor. 10 Drive out the mocker, and conflict will depart; even quarreling and insults will cease."
2 Corinthians 9:6
"Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously."
Proverbs 19:17
"Kindness to the poor is a loan to the LORD, and He will repay the lender."
If no one ever knows our kindness our joy is all the fuller because God knows and He is the love we pour out to others.
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