Joey's Prayer Site

Prayer and Laughter

There is an interesting story in the book of Genesis about laughter, mentioned 4 times in 4 verses the scriptures draws our attention to this often overlooked expression of joy, particularly among the praying kind.

So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?” Then the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’  Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son.” Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.” But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.”  Genesis 18:12-15

In a nutshell, Sarah did not believe God and laughed at the prospect of God’s promise.  God responded by asking her why she laughed.  He was pointing out to Abraham and Sarah the truth behind her laughter.   But that’s not the end of the story:

Prayer and Headless Men

I’ve been reading the book of Daniel the last few days and came across the story of the time when King Nebuchadnezzar had his strange dream that no one could interpret for him.

In his rage he decided to have all of his wise men executed (Daniel 2:12).  It did not say how they were to be executed but in those days the usual way was they were beheaded, plus “Headless Men” was a great title for this post.

Long story made short, Daniel prayed with his core team of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.  In the evening God answered their prayer and gave Daniel the interpretation to the king’s dream.

One Dangerous Prayer

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.  Psalm 139:23-24

Dangerous only if you're not serious about God.  I know in my life I have prayed this prayer not once but several times.  The dangerous part about it is God usually answers it in ways we may not expect.

Prayer and Pain

The word pain shows up early in the Bible, in chapter 3 of the book of Genesis:

To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children.  Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”  To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 

I’ve often wondered why God instituted pain in the lives of people.  Personally I believe it was and still is His way of protecting us.  For instance if we touch something hot the initial pain causes us to remove our hands from the heat source.  Imagine if we did not feel any pain.  Our hand will never detract from the flame and will just burn us completely.