18 Days Until Thanksgivings

     With 18 more days until Thanksgiving, I am continuing the countdown and sharing some of the wonderful things for which I am thankful.
     I am so thankful for the opportunity to pray to a God who hears.  As I was studying the Book of Daniel, the author provided some insights into the power of prayer.  I know from Matthew 7:7, I am to "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:"
     The author explains that getting involved in prayer, "is not a way we get God to do what we want; prayer is a way we  get involved in what God wants." 
     The author further explains the three forms of prayer:

1. Ask: simply ask him. 
2.  Seek: that involves some investigation, study, trying to understand what God is doing. 
3.  Knock: that involves repetition, coming back again and again....We are to ask for some things, such as the things we need for personal strength --wisdom, love, power, grace. " 

     He states that "all three --ask, seek, and knock-- have the same guarantee. .. The answers are absolutely sure when prayer is made on the basis of what God has said He will do."  To quote the author, "The minute you began to pray the answer was given but delays are possible.  There are good angels of God ready to help us, but there are also evil angels, that are ready to oppose what God is doing."

     Isn't that interesting?  To sum this up with possible reasons for delayed responses is Ephesians 6:12 "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." 
     Yet verse 13 tells us to "Take  unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and have done all, to stand."

     The one thing I do know and have the assurance of is the fact that God is always in control and, every time I pray, peace enters my soul.  For this I am thankful.