He Answers Prayers!

During Spring of 2020, when I found myself with a lot of extra downtime, I started spending a lot of time in my Closet in prayer, chatting and hanging out with Jesus. And during the 2 months that I was "off" from work, I spent no end of time with my neighbor Joanie, laughing, chatting, talking all things Beauty Industry, and ultimately all about Jesus. At a point, one day while we were deep in conversation, she asked me if I believe that God answers prayer. I said "YES!! He absolutely answers prayer!" Then she asked me if I believed that God answers her prayers. To which I responded "OH YES!! He definitely answers your prayers! Then she followed up with "Do you believe that God answers YOUR prayers? And I emphatically replied "No. He does not answer my prayers. He does not." I think we laughed when I said that, although it is not funny at all. But I realized that my perception was completely wrong on this! Why would He answer for her and not for me? Why would He answer for folks in general and not for me? That is just silly; it is not reasonable. God is God; He is constant; He is not arbitrary or capricious. So I counted that as an about-face moment, and began praying with a different attitude.

After a time, He came to me in a dream and asked me "Why are you not praying for My People? Why are you NOT laying your hands on people and praying for them in Jesus' name?" BOOM! Mind Blown! Clearly He wants me to pray! Clearly He wants to answer! Clearly He wants me to come to Him, listen to Him, follow His lead, obey His word, and keep going. God is not a God who toys with people or sends them down rabbit holes that bear no fruit. He is Good! He is Loving! He is Holy! He is Righteous! So, You say PRAY!! I'm going to pray! And I am going to study Prayer. And I am going to pray with others, and for others, and follow His lead. I am going to learn the language of prayer by steeping myself in His Word, and I am going to pray about prayer. Whooo! A lot will happen in a person when this is a course of action over time!

Why am I telling you all this?? Hold on...I'm getting there.

Several months ago while I was driving to Church on a Sunday morning, the LORD dropped into my spirit to pray the following: Call The Men! Call Them In! OK LORD, can do! Not super-witty, but I get the message. So I started praying this prayer, a lot. I prayed it for my family, my Church, My Little Town. And I kept on praying. Knowing full well that every time a man gives his life to the LORD, his family changes forever, even to the 3rd and 4th generation. What happens within the 4 walls of his home changes, his workplace changes, his Church changes, and that goes on, in a ripple effect all around him.

At the same time, I have been very moved to pray that the chains of addiction break, in Jesus' name, all over My Little Town. Day to day I see, with my Spiritual Eyes, the hurting and the homeless and the addicted. I see the enemy at work in My Little Town, breaking down the family unit and tearing apart community. So I have been praying that the LORD would stop the advance of the enemy; that we will come together to bind the strongman over My Little Town; that chains would break and captives be set free; praying to send forth His fiery angels to battle in the spirit realm to save and deliver forth from addiction. And I have been praying this for many months since our move to My Little Town.

Sometimes when we pray, we act out of a desired outcome. We pray for what we want or need or think we need. And sometimes the LORD delivers that. Sometimes we pray, not knowing what we need, but knowing that He knows. And sometimes we pray according to what He tells us to pray. So I had been praying these 2 things, not knowing of a connection, or foreseeing an outcome, only knowing that Father God said "Pray This", so I did. And this past Sunday, the LORD allowed me to see a wonderful thing--He allowed me to see Him moving in real time!

As I was sitting in Church last Sunday, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. But as I was leaving the Altar after receiving Communion, I saw about a dozen MEN!! Men I had never seen before, men who have not been attending My Little Church. It was BEAUTIFUL! They were covered up with tattoos--tattoos on their faces and necks and arms and hands and fingers. They had on clean shirts and they had clean hair, and they smelled good. And they were worshipping Jesus and participating in Holy Communion. When I greeted one of the guys, asking him if it was his first visit, he explained that he and his friends were from Timothy House (a place here that helps men recover from addiction) and had been invited to worship, and that they enjoyed it so much that they would be back. WHAAAAT!! That is an exact answer to an exact prayer! I was overjoyed, thrilled, moved with emotion. God could have done that and not bothered to share it with me, and it would still be incredible and beautiful. Absolutely! But the fact that He walked me right into that filled me with awe, and praise for His goodness, His kindness, and His trust in me that I would tell everyone about it!! So, yes! I guess this is a Testimony. Or at least a great little story. And I tell it to you so that you might believe that He is good, and Almighty, and loving. He is For you, not against you! He gives you a hope and a future! He still heals, He still breaks chains, He still sets the captives free. That is my King! And He can be your King too!

So that brings me back to Joanie's question: Baby, do you believe God answers prayer? Yes Ma'am, I do! And Baby, do you believe God answers your prayers? Yes Ma'am, I do! I absolutely do!

As for me, I will continue to pray these prayers that the LORD has placed in my heart. He is not a One & Done kind of God, so we will keep going, together. I am so grateful to Him, for sharing this platform with me, for sending me out into My Little Town to speak Jesus and cry out for deliverance, for loving me, delivering me and blessing me with a sweet life. Thank You, LORD! Thank You!

Pray this with me: Dear Father In Heaven, You are so good! You alone are worthy of all honor and praise! You are Perfect, and Holy, and Beautiful! Thank You that Your holy Word gives us example after example of how You relate to Your people through prayer. For thousands of examples of times when You came running to Your people to answer their prayer. For examples of how to pray, words to pray, showing us that if we pray in accordance to Your will and Your Word, You answer big-time! Jesus, Jesus, Jesus! Your name is Life and Healing and Victory! Your perfect blood brings us Salvation and Mercy and Grace and Love-Everlasting! Thank You! In the mighty name of Jesus, Amen!

I love you all so much! I pray His Perfect Shalom on you this day, and every day. Please let me know how I can pray for you. It would be my great honor.

Grace and Peace!

Leslie~