Praise for Answered Prayer

For about 2 months I had been praying that I would wake up in the morning and spend some time with the Lord. Read his word, sing praises to him, and come to him in prayer. All I asked for was 15 minutes to spend with him. Although I would pray this every night and set my alarm fifteen minutes early, I would wake up every morning, hit the snooze, and go right back to bed for 15 minutes. I tried every trick in the book to keep myself up once the alarm went off. For 2 months I put my alarm clock far from my bed so that I would have to get up, and I would leave things on top of my snooze button to remind me that I want to spend time with the Lord. I would leave tea bags, my Bible, and even my devotional book. None of this worked. As soon as the alarm went off, I would jump out of bed and hit the snooze and be right back in bed for that extra 15 minutes of sleep. This morning was different though.

I was dreaming a peaceful dream. I can’t remember what happened during this dream except that I began to pray The Lord’s Prayer. “Our Father which art in heaven, Hollowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts and we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory for ever. Amen.” Ring. My alarm went off, and I woke up as I was finishing the prayer in my dream. With the Lord on my mind as I went to hit the snooze button instead I decided to hit the off button. I recited The Lord’s Prayer a few more times and went directly to the shower to get ready for the day. When I returned to the room I wanted to read a chapter from God’s Word. I said a short prayer asking God to give me understanding in what I was about to read and I flipped the bible open to Judges. I knew I wasn’t awake enough to read Judges so I made one more flip and arrived at David’s Psalms. Psalm 138 to be exact. I read the heading to the chapter, “Praise for Answered Prayer,” and knew at that moment that this was not all coincidence. God had planned this all out that I would come to a deeper dependence in him and recognition of his work in my life.

Psalm 138:1-3,7 – “I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto thee. I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. In the day when I cried out thou answeredest me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul…Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me.”