Prayer Tip: Do You Try to Tell God What to Do?

Often when we pray, we have in mind exactly what we think God should do, when He should do it, and we even try to tell Him how to do it.  Think about it.  Does that really make sense?

Isa. 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For ”uc”>as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.”

His ways are so much higher and better than my ways, it doesn’t make sense to insist on my way.

Prov. 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

I’ve concluded that if I’m going to trust Him fully and experience the good He has for me, I’ll need to distrust myself/my own understanding and not insist on what I think I want.

More often now I tell Him what I think the need is and then ask Him how I should pray.

Prayer Tip: You Can Talk to God About Everything

Do you talk to God about everything?  You certainly can.  And it’s not like it might be embarrassing or inappropriate since He already knows your thoughts before you think them.  Ps. 139:2-4

Phil. 4:6 LB  Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs and don’t forget to thank him for his answers.  If you do this you will experience God’s peace,…

When we are in a relationship with others we do certain things.  If it’s a love relationship, we willingly spend a lot of time with that person and we can talk for hours to them over big and small things.  We should realize that to have a vibrant relationship with God, we need to spend time with Him in His word and talking to him about everything.  Janice C.

Our relationship with God is different because God is Spirit and our relationship is by faith.  But it is just as real, longer lasting, and at a much deeper level of intimacy.  Our 5 senses are temporal and very limited.  Our relationship with God doesn’t have these limits.  Rom. 8:16   For example, we can dialogue with Him constantly since He is always with us – unlike any human relationship.

Try talking to God throughout the day about whatever you’re thinking and doing.  By the way, He knows everything there is to know about your job/school/endeavor and He’s eager to help.  Ps. 46:1

Prayer Tip: Only Two Purposes for Prayer

Dr. Hugel – There are two and only two purposes for prayer – 1) to bring us to God and 2) to get us in agreement with His perspective/will.

Prayer is not about overcoming God’s reluctance but rather laying hold of His willingness.  Isa. 30:18  “Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you…’

I John 5:14,15And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. ¹⁵ And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.

If prayer is fundamentally about getting to know God, how does that change the way you pray?

Prayer Tip: Emotional Drains that Sap Our Strength

Reminder: 1/2 Day of Prayer this Saturday June 10 at the Plaza 8 a.m. to noon.

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Bitterness is an obvious drain that destroys the person harboring it and defiles everyone around them. But what about things like fear and worry and disappointment and self-pity?

 “The clearest evidence that God’s grace is at work in our hearts is that we do not get into panics.  The one great crime on the part of a disciple, according to Jesus Christ, is worry.  Whenever we begin to calculate without God, we commit sin.”     Oswald Chambers

We’re told (actually commanded) ‘do not fear’, ‘do not worry’, ‘fix your eyes on Jesus rather than yourself or your circumstances’. How are we to do that?    PRAY.

Psalm 34:4 I sought the Lord, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.

Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT) Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.

Psalm 3:3-4 But You, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the One who lifts my head. I was crying to the Lord with my voice, and He answered me from His holy mountain.

Psalm 27:13-14 I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord, be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord.

John 14:1 Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.

Prayer Tip: Is Bitterness Draining You of Life?

Are you (any hint of) bitter?  “All bitterness is ultimately toward God.” (since at the very least, God allowed ‘it’.)

Ephesians 4:30-31 (NASB)
³⁰  Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God… ³¹  Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

Bitterness towards people requires forgiveness….there is no other way to get rid of it – vs.32.  It is actually self-destructive.  Someone has said, “Bitterness is like you drinking poison and hoping the other person dies.”  A big key in forgiving others is choosing to focus on how much God has forgiven you.

But what about bitterness towards God?  That requires surrender … which comes out of trust which comes by God’s grace which comes out of humbling myself.  Possibly the greatest statement of faith in the Bible was made by Job, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him…” (13:15)  Can you truly believe that God causes all things to work together for good? Rom. 8:28  He really is that BIG.

We can’t really comprehend the extent of the destruction caused by being bitter …. And not just to ourselves, through our bitterness ‘many (everyone around us) are defiled’. Heb. 12:15

It should be obvious that bitterness hinders/chokes out the effectiveness of prayer.  A bitter person cannot experience the repentance that God blesses. (Heb. 12:17)

Pray ‘search me, O God’ this week to surrender and forgive and experience an unprecedented realm of largeness in your praying.