The power of prayer... Seriously, its powerful

So we have really been learning alot about prayer lately. We have both prayed most of our lives, but it seems that lately we are really learning what it means to pray and how to pray. From an early age we are taught to pray for our families and those we know that are sick. We are also taught to pray when life seems to be going bad. Don't get me wrong, these are all great things to pray for, but we're starting to realize that they only scratch the surface of not only God wants from us, but also what He wants to give us. Matthew 7:7-11 says,
7"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
9"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"
What a novel concept that all we have to do is ask, seek, and knock. I especially like the last part because I think it gets overlooked alot. If we ask for things, God is not going to give us things that will hurt us (i.e. snakes and stones). He will "give good gifts to those who ask him!" I think sometimes we wonder why God isn't doing great things in our lives but we don't even bother to look at whether or not we are asking for them. How can He give us what we don't ask for? We just go through life assuming that God hasn't really planned for us to do much for Him. When I say great things, I don't mean that He is going to send all of us to the other side of the world or turn everyone into an inspirational preacher. One of the things we have learned since we have been down here is that you don't have to go to the other side of the world to do great things. Its funny that we would learn that on the other side of the world :). People here are just like people anywhere else in the world. If we are looking to impact the lives of people, all we need to do is look around. There isn't some great plan that we have learned while we are down here that lets us minister to others. All you need to do is just ask God to use you and be willing to let Him use you. God can do great things through you in your ordinary, day to day life. All you have to do is ask.

Ashley and Zach

P.S./Warning:
Be careful what you ask for because you just might get it haha.

P.S.S.
These are two sayings about prayer from a devotional that we have been reading.

"Effective prayer claims the promises of God by faith with fervent and unrelenting passion."

"Apart from prayer, we can do nothing?"