PRAYER IS LIKE MAIL By Pastor Yau

Hebrews 11:6 October 26, 2003

INTRODUCTION:

Before telephone and computers become common means of communication, mail service has been the main means of communication for centuries. People communicate ideas, thoughts, feelings, needs and information through writing and mailing letters. The Bible teaches us a different means of communication with God, and that means is prayer. Children of God pray to God, communicating their thoughts, needs, problems and even appreciation to God through prayers. There are some similarities between these two means of communication that worth our attention.

THEY BOTH REQUIRE ORGAONIZED THOUGHTS:

If you want your recipient to understand your ideas, thoughts, etc. from your letter, you need to sit down, organize your thoughts and ideas, put them in writing as a letter. This is especially important if you have urgent and serious matters to communicate to the other person. This is also true in prayers.

We all understand that God doesn’t need our writing to know our needs and problems, but He needs us to know what our needs are before we prayer to Him. Taking time to pray is like taking time to write. Jesus told us to “ask and we shall be given” in Matthew 7:7. And James told us that “we didn’t have because we didn’t ask.” (James 4:2) The text of this article tells us that “God will richly reward those who seek Him.”

THEY BOTH REQUIRE US TO LET GO:

If you hold on to your letter after you have finished writing, that letter will never arrive in the hands of your reader. You need to let go of it to a delivery agency, be it the Postal Service, UPS, FedEx or any other career of mail service. You can’t hold on to the letter or take it back into your own hand and still hoping your reader will know what you have written in the letter. This is true in prayers.

Too often, Christians will pray, telling God what they need, etc. and still hold on to their needs and problems and hoping that God will do something about them. God can’t. God can do nothing when we continue to handle our problems without committing them to His care. Our unwilling to let go hinders God’s ability to help us. We must keep our hands off our needs and problems, then God is able to take charge of them.

THEY BOTH TAKE FAITH TO MAKE THINGS WORK:

I have never been to a mail station of the Postal Service, but had visited the processing center of FedEx in Memphis. The huge sprawling facility was impressive. Even though I saw all the computers, the machineries, and man-power in that facility, I still don’t know how they function to sort, pack, ship and deliver articles. But FedEx does deliver millions of mail, parcels and other items to the correct addresses on time everyday. When we put our letters or parcels in the hands of the Postal Service or any other mailing agency, we TRUST their good will and ability to do right. The effectiveness of prayers requires the same FAITH and TRUST in GOD. We don’t need to know how. We need to know GOD can and will.

We need to trust God has the good will for our best. He is our Father in Heaven who has our best interest in His heart and will be happy and willing to give us the best. We also need to trust God has the ability to do all things we trust Him to. If God can raise the dead to life, can He understand our needs and provide us accordingly?

CONCLUSION:

Romans 10:12, “For there is do difference between the Jews and the Gentiles, the same Lord is Lord to all and will richly reward those who call on Him.” Do you have anything that you can’t handle? Problems too complicated you don’t know what to do? Needs that are so great you can’t provide? Before you finish reading this, close your eyes, lift up your head and tell God. He is willing and able to help you face anything if you come to Him and ask.

Philippians 4:6-7, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything present your every need to God, and the peace of God, which transcend all human understanding, will guard your minds and hearts in Jesus Christ.”