Where do you go when you have a question?  Better yet, where do you go when you have a question AND need an answer?   I think we can be honest and admit that we all have questions.  Some are easy to answer, like “Daddy, who made God?”  You know…easy ones like that.  😛  Then there are the hard ones like, “Daddy, where do babies come from?”  The answer to that one is simple: “Go ask your mom.”

Just kidding, of course.  Tough questions are a parent’s worst nightmare… from the simple ones like “Who made God?” (Answer: I don’t know); to the really hard ones that test a parent’s moxie.  Jenn recently posted about a tough question Shiloh asked here, but I believe she answered it correctly.  How about this one: “Daddy/mommy, I heard “this word.”  What does it mean?”   What parent alive hasn’t had those uncomfortable moments?

I recently posed a challenge to the people of the church I pastor.  I also posed that same challenge to my readers here.  In case you are unable to do the “link thingy,” I asked the folks at the church (and you) to write down any question about prayer they/you may have for a sermon I was preparing for January.  This week is that sermon.   To be totally honest, I don’t fashion myself as some “Question Answer Man.”  I am a student myself with a ton of questions.  But I have taken the questions/statements and worked hard to answer them.  Here they are:

#1: I am too insignificant for God to even spend His time listening to me.

#2: The answer will be something I don’t want to hear or am not prepared to hear.

#3: I’ve prayed for this before and I think God is tired of hearing about it, or He’ll be mad that I keep asking.

#4: I don’t pray because sometimes I don’t know the words to say.

#5: It is easy to pray when things seem to be beyond my control, and I need to look to God for help and guidance.  We sometimes forget to pray when everything appears to be going well.

#6: God already knows what I am going to say; He already knows my needs; why should I pray?

#7: I am praying but it seems like either I am not getting an answer or God simply isn’t listening.

Whew!  Makes me sweat just typing them.  🙂  Of course, you realize there are a ton more I could deal with.  I took the easy ones.  😉  I am not naive enough to think I will be able to answer these questions to everyone’s satisfaction, but it is a start.  Hopefully it will be a start for dialogue and some good old-fashioned digging into the Word.

I’ll let you know Monday how it turned out.  Or you can listen to the podcast and let me know what you think.  Seriously, please pray for me.  It is a whole new approach for me.  Thanks ahead of time.  Do you have any questions about prayer?