I want you to think about some of the prayers that we routinely pray.
We pray “give us this day our daily bread” (or something to that effect), then we get in our cars and go to the store and buy everything we need for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks for the week. We pray for a job and then we go out and apply for employment in the field that we have studied for and trained in for years. We pray for a new house and then we go out searching for a mortgage loan we can qualify for. We pray for good health and then we go on a diet, take a nutrition class, and start to exercise. You see it’s so easy for us to answer our own prayers.
Now think about the homeless person who prays “give me today my daily bread”, or please provide a warm place for me to sleep tonight. Think about the parents of children in “Third World” countries who pray for food, shelter, and protection. These people pray for things they can’t always provide for themselves.
There are two things the prayers of these people should cause us to consider.
First we can our our abundance to help answer someone else’s prayers.
Secondly, we need to learn to pray bold prayers, asking God for the things that only He can bring about. That is, if they are in accordance with His will. Things like healing of a terminal incurable illness, employment in new field in a new city, providing the means to accomplish a something that God has directed, with no idea of the outcome, a child when you've been told that you can never have a child, something bigger than you can even imagine.
How about you? Is your prayer list full of items you can cross off yourself? Maybe it’s time to ask, “Lord, teach me to pray.”
Father, teach me to pray more boldly. Help me pray more confident prayers that can’t be answered on my own and can only happen through Your power. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
We pray “give us this day our daily bread” (or something to that effect), then we get in our cars and go to the store and buy everything we need for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks for the week. We pray for a job and then we go out and apply for employment in the field that we have studied for and trained in for years. We pray for a new house and then we go out searching for a mortgage loan we can qualify for. We pray for good health and then we go on a diet, take a nutrition class, and start to exercise. You see it’s so easy for us to answer our own prayers.
Now think about the homeless person who prays “give me today my daily bread”, or please provide a warm place for me to sleep tonight. Think about the parents of children in “Third World” countries who pray for food, shelter, and protection. These people pray for things they can’t always provide for themselves.
There are two things the prayers of these people should cause us to consider.
First we can our our abundance to help answer someone else’s prayers.
Secondly, we need to learn to pray bold prayers, asking God for the things that only He can bring about. That is, if they are in accordance with His will. Things like healing of a terminal incurable illness, employment in new field in a new city, providing the means to accomplish a something that God has directed, with no idea of the outcome, a child when you've been told that you can never have a child, something bigger than you can even imagine.
How about you? Is your prayer list full of items you can cross off yourself? Maybe it’s time to ask, “Lord, teach me to pray.”
Father, teach me to pray more boldly. Help me pray more confident prayers that can’t be answered on my own and can only happen through Your power. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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