Eyes Open to Prayer

By Juliana Costa
Brasília, Brazil

Para ler este artigo em português, clique aqui.

Editor’s Note: We end 2022 with a five-day devotional series written by several sisters in ICOC churches in Brazil. May these devotional thoughts encourage your hearts as we enter 2023!

Throughout the sacred scriptures, it is possible to extract precious lessons about how great men connected with God through prayer.

The prophet Jeremiah expressed his regrets with sincerity and upon hearing them, God responded, I believe sweetly yet firmly, “Do not be afraid!” (Lamentations 3:57). God appreciates this humble approach to His throne.

Paul, in turn, in his letter to the Colossians (Colossians 4:2), teaches us about how we should pray. Prayer must be a spiritual discipline characterized by the constancy and sobriety of one who is convinced that he is in a spiritual war—with vigilance, gratitude, perseverance, and thanksgiving.

Jesus, in His conversation with God in the garden of Gethsemane recorded in the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 26:39-44), expresses all the characteristics mentioned in the two verses noted above. In His most challenging moment, Jesus leads us to deep reflections; and here I stop to share with you my prayer story and how I have learned from our dear Master, Jesus.

To develop in me these characteristics so appreciated by the Father, He took me to the desert and there I continue to learn.

I am recognized for being communicative and enjoying being around many people. I love to communicate! However, when He took me to the desert, I realized that His greatest desire was not to punish or chastise me, but rather to teach me to recognize only and exclusively what is His voice, without distractions, and to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

I needed to learn, like the sheep, to follow only His voice. His voice is the only one that can satisfy my hunger and thirst. It is sweet and at the same time so powerful. It rouses the spirit, to walk where He leads, even if it is toward deep waters or dense darkness. My heart ignites and I am sure that He is my light, the strength that makes me walk on water, I fall on my knees and I adore Him. I learn, listen, and follow.

The desert in my life started when I lost my brother on my 15th birthday. Later, I got married at 25 and my husband left our community of faith very early on in the marriage (I have been married for 19 years). It continued when my best “sister friend” in the church died of cancer at age 33, leaving a 7-year-old daughter and a widowed “brother friend.” I moved out of state and my relatives stayed. My dad is battling prostate cancer. My inability to have children astonished me and today I experience professional instability, unemployment, illness, and my husband's early retirement due to disability.

It has taken more than two decades to begin to learn these powerful lessons about how to identify the Shepherd’s voice and worship Him. It was in solitude that He taught me and continues to teach me. In our conversations He told me that this discipline was the key that linked all things in heaven and on earth and that if I trained, I would hear Him more and more clearly. He gave me many tips on how to grow in this spiritual discipline and I want to share them with you. 

Prayer journals 

I have over 20 journals, one for each year in the faith. 

Cell phone alarms

I have prayer alarms. My cell phone is programmed with more than 10 different alarms, one for each situation (children, patients, relatives). I pray for everyone. Whenever I see a plane in the sky, I say a quick prayer for everyone inside. When someone asks me to pray for something specific, I stop to pray at that very moment, even if it's just a few seconds. That time and day of the request will become an alarm on my cell phone. 

A state of alertness 

I visit the websites of all of the ICOC family of churches in Brazil and pray for baptisms, leaders, new missions, and projects. I attend services to know what to pray for. I look for opportunities and free time to pray. When I travel to visit my relatives and friends in another state, I take the bus and spend 10 hours awake and praying. During my household chores I pray. As I go to sleep, I religiously pray with my 7-year-old daughter and make an effort to pray aloud with my husband before I fall asleep.

And the answers?

You may be wondering how much God answers my prayers. I can tell you for SURE He hears them, but I'm still learning how to interpret the answers. Every time I ask for answers, He warns me to look at His goodness and He softly tells me, "Don't be afraid." I move forward with the certainty of His company and His love. I talk to Him all the time and He smiles at me.

Prayer is not about answers, it is about intimacy and worship.

You drew near when I called to you,

and you said, "Don't be afraid"

Lamentations 3:57 (NIV)

Devote yourselves to prayer, be alert, and be thankful.

Colossians 4:2 (NIV)

Going a little farther, he prostrated himself with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will."

Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you not watch with me even one hour?" he asked Peter.

"Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."

And he withdrew again to pray: "My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to pass away unless I drink it, your will be done."

When he returned, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. Then he left them again and prayed a third time, saying the same words. 

Matthew 26:39-44 (NIV)

Questions for Reflection:

1. How do you use prayer to grow in intimacy and worship?
2. What makes you sure that what you hear is coming from God Himself?
3. What practical exercises have you been pursuing to grow in this spiritual discipline?