I recently enjoyed a lakeside stroll. I was fascinated by the rippling water. Some ripples were caused by wind blowing across the water’s surface in small waves. Other ripples were caused by turtles, fish, or other animals breaking the water’s surface. In each case, no matter where they began, the ripples always moved across the entire lake.

The ripples remind me of our prayer journey. Prayer is the practice of paying attention to God. God is always at work, and cultivating a rich prayer life shifts our mindset, allowing us to focus on God’s ultimate movement above our transient impressions. Prayers are powerful spiritual transmissions that reverberate just like those lake ripples. The element of water is symbolic of God’s purification in our lives. Hebrews 10:22 says “let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” 

In his book “How to Pray After You’ve Kicked the Dog”, Terry Tekyl explains that we apply prayers like water because we sprinkle some situations in prayer and saturate others. Even when life overwhelms us and we feel that our prayers are small and insignificant, like a drop in that pond, they spread out in all directions and reach their God-appointed destination. 1 John 5:14-15 says “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.” Our prayers are alive and continuous. Sincere prayer allows us to express appreciation as well as concerns to God. Our prayers invite God into situations that burden our heart as well as our heart itself. Prayer is a relief and a release, a vehicle to minister to ourselves and others. Psalm 68:19 says “Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden, The God who is our salvation. Selah.”

The ripples on that pond reminded me that God is constantly moving, working, arranging, and orchestrating events in our lives. Through the ebb and flow our lives, we can walk in the reassurance that God is constantly at work. Sometimes prayer ripples take a while to reach God’s intended place. However, we must remember that we operate according to God’s timeline, not the other way around. As we continue to pray and seek God’s face,  He blesses us with the spiritual vision to recognize the blessings all around us.

I encourage you to trust God as you become a catalyst for His ripple prayer effect!