Cheek-Crushed-On-The-Carpet Prayers

by Feb 4, 2022Easy and Light

Cheek-Crushed-On-The-Carpet Prayers

The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you but will rejoice over you with singing.

Zephaniah 3:17 (NIV)

My dear friend and my dad recently passed away seven days apart. For both, I prayed – earnestly, frequently, scripturally. I prayed “cheek-crushed-on-the-carpet prayers” — bowed low, arms extended on the floor, palms open facing up, head turned. My heart open. Raw. Desperate. Listening, seeking, hoping. Yet, neither were healed this side of heaven. The outcome of our prayer is not what’s important. When we fully trust Him, we can trust Him for whatever the outcome turns out to be. Paul tells us, “And we know that in ALL things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). Even when it doesn’t feel good, it can be FOR good because HE is good. Ultimately, prayer isn’t about getting what we want, it’s about Who we are spending time with. God desires an honest relationship with us. He can handle our rawness and our disappointment in Him, and He can use it to build the intimacy of our relationship. I have words I’ve scribbled during prayer that are worth more than gold, because they came from the mouth of God.

Lord, we want more of You and not what you give us. Help us to understand it’s not about getting what we want through prayer, but experiencing an intimate, authentic relationship with You. Amen

I miss my dad and my dear friend terribly. Yet, if I’m honest, I long for the moments I sat at the Lord’s feet on their behalf. I long for that morning we huddled in prayer on my friend’s porch and rubbed mustard seeds through our fingers, trusting and experiencing the presence of God together. I long for the desperate moments of “cheek-crushed-on-the-carpet prayers” singing worship music, pleading for healing for my dad and communing with my Savior.

As I look back, I long for those moments because in those, I experienced the nearness of God: He comforted, He spoke, He filled, He carried. He’s continuing to heal my heart. There’s pain in loss, yes, but when in the presence of the Almighty, everything else falls away. Eternity is branded on our heart. Our perspective shifts, and the eternal takes root. In that realization, we are reminded “this is not our home.”

Prayer is powerful. We should intercede for others. We just can’t cling too tightly on the results. He is too good for that. In our inability to comprehend His methods, it’s dangerous to quantify His goodness and love based on how our prayers are answered. When we experience the nearness of God, trusting Him to carry us through the pain and meet our needs, we have a taste of the heart and character of our loving, Sovereign Father.

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