Sometimes circumstances get the best of us, and we don’t know how to pray, really pray the way that God wants…
I’m sorry I missed you last weekend. I like to send out my weekly thoughts on Saturday or Sunday… but this week life was a little more than my plans could accommodate.
So here it is midweek and I’m cleaning out my email and I found a note I sent to the Prayer Team at my church. And the words are just ringing in my heart and I know that it will bless someone who really needs this kind of encouragement right now.
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Sometimes prayer is a long road. We don’t know God’s plan, but we seek to pray in Jesus name, according to His will. But we’re not always certain how to go about it.
Perhaps I should say “I” not “we”. I am facing some challenging circumstances and I want to pray well in them. But it is hard to know where my will ends and His will begins.
Experience has taught me that whenever I feel something, I’m not the only one feeling it. Have you ever been in this spot? Wanting an outcome, but not sure if you’re just praying selfishly?
In moments like this we can only cling to what we know:
- God is good. Without qualification or restraint.
- God is sovereign. He will work things out the way He wants and neither you nor I can mess Him up.
- God is working in me. This struggle is a growing opportunity and I need to trust in that.
- God is faithful. He will never abandon you or I. However long it takes, He is there with us.
I find encouragement in these truths. It causes me to come back to God again and again to seek Him. I don’t fear failure. I only fear giving up. And because of His faithfulness, I don’t ever need to write a situation off as a lost cause.
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When I read those words, sitting in the middle of the situation that was pressing so heavily on me, I can only give praise to God.
The things I feared last week, the things I didn’t know how to pray about, the things that I feared I was bending to my will not His… these things have found a way to goodness. Not all the way yet. But I see the sovereign hand of God working in this situation. It is not dark or lost or hopeless by any stretch of the imagination.
So when you find those situations that seem to crash over you like an unstoppable wave, go back to God. Run to Him and trust in Him and see what He can do in your life.
More on the weekend…
Dennis
