Intercessory prayer is an act of faith – a deep trust in the promises made to us by a loving and merciful God who promised never to leave us – but it is also an act of hope.
But let me be clear. By “hope,” I don’t mean that everything that happens in our lives will be good, that even with the strongest faith there will be no suffering. Sometimes the glass will be half or maybe even three-quarters empty! By “hope,” I mean that in every moment of our lives there will be God. Even when there is no cure, God offers us healing; even when there is no cure, God offers us care.
It’s like the neighbor who saw a young boy returning from Sunday school. The neighbor said, “I’ll give you 25 cents if you can tell me where God is.” The little boy thought for a moment and said, “I’ll give you a dollar if you can tell me where God ain’t!”
In Matthew 28:20, Jesus said: “I am with you always…” With that promise, we pray with hope.
This message is excerpted from “Praying in faith, hope and love” by Violet Cucciniello Little in the June 2018 Gather magazine.
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