5 Things I'm Learning About Prayer
I recently received the most encouraging email from a friend about how God answered some prayers in her life. He had worked in ways that she couldn't have imagined, and her exclamation was:
"I don't even know how to express my thoughts & joy for how incredibly AWESOME, WONDERFUL, AMAZING... our ALL KNOWING & ALL POWERFUL God is!"
I was so excited to hear from her, and that reaction really made me think. She was so overjoyed because God had heard and answered her prayer, and her first reaction was praise. After all, shouldn't prayer and praise go hand in hand?
God has been teaching me a lot about prayer, and there are a few things I've learned.
1) Expect God to work and pray for big things.
If we are seeking the Lord's will and praying for things, we have to believe that He will do those things. I know too many times I would ask God for something but not really believe it would happen. A great example of this is when I was preparing to go overseas last Christmas break. I had to raise a lot of money in a short amount of time, so I prayed about it. In all honestly, I expected to have to do the work myself. But God proved me wrong, as He often does, and He supplied all the money in 2 weeks. 2 weeks!
A verse that helps me with this principle is Psalm 5:3, "In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation." (NIV). The word that really gets me there is "expectation". It's not just about presenting our requests then going out and trying to make them happen. It's about trusting God to do something about it. This also encourages me to pray big prayers. If God says He will answer, then why not ask for big things? After all, God is more than capable to do anything we could imagine to ask.
2) Specific prayers get specific answers.
This one is one that I have been learning about very recently. (The exact quote is from John Strappazon.) A lot of times, my prayers fall into the habit of looking like, "God, bless those people around me, and use me in some way, and be glorified." Which is great; God can still answer that. However, when I ask for more specific things, such as "God, show me this week what I am passionate about," or even, "God, please provide for me in this way tomorrow", he answers in those ways. John 14:13 says, "Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." (ESV). Last week, I prayed the prayer about God revealing my passions. Guess what? He did, and because of what He showed me, I am reflecting on what direction He wants me to take and how to use those passions for His glory.
3) God always answers.
I've never had God leave a prayer unanswered, even when I thought He wasn't listening. He always answers either "yes", "no", or "wait". (I've found that "wait" is very common in my life...perhaps He knows how that is something I need to work on...) If we are seeking God, He's not going to ignore us. Jeremiah 29:13 says, "You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart." (ESV). He doesn't hide from us, and in the same way, He doesn't ignore our cries. And since God is all-knowing, he already knows what we need and is preparing it for us! As my wise friend Nathan once said, " I love it how God works stuff out in advance so that your current prayers are answered. It just goes to show how time really isn't an issue for God. A prayer prayed tomorrow could have saved someone's life yesterday..." That's such a great perspective of seeing how God answers, even when it's not according to our sense of time.
4) He knows your heart, but He still wants to hear from you.
One of my favorite verses is Psalm 38:9 - "Oh Lord, all my longing is before You, my sighing is not hidden from You." It is encouraging to know that God hears our cries, even when they're hidden in our hearts. However, He still wants to hear from us. You may know your sibling, friend, or significant other very well, but if you never have a conversation, the relationship will begin to deteriorate. God wants to hear from us. Psalm 50:15 says, "Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me." (ESV). There is a lot to unpack in that one verse. God wants us to trust Him to take care of us and to call upon Him. He says He will answer. Also, our prayers bring glory to God, which is what He desires and deserves.
5) Don't pray for something you aren't ready to receive.
I say this half-jokingly and half-seriously. God says over and over that He will answer our prayers, but they aren't always answered the way we want them to be. Last fall, I prayed a lot that God would draw me closer to Him and make me rely on Him more. He definitely answered, but not in ways I liked. He put me in hard and sometimes painful situations in order to answer that. At the time, I didn't understand what He was doing, but looking back on it, He answered my prayers in real, tangible ways. The key is to remember the truth from Romans 8:28 - that He works all things for our good.
Obviously, this isn't everything there is to know about prayer, and it's not even all the things He's teaching me. However, these 5 things have made a huge impact in my life.
One more thing to mention? Go back and look through prayer journals or think of prayers you've prayed. See how God has answered them and how He's been faithful, because I guarantee that He has.
"I don't even know how to express my thoughts & joy for how incredibly AWESOME, WONDERFUL, AMAZING... our ALL KNOWING & ALL POWERFUL God is!"
I was so excited to hear from her, and that reaction really made me think. She was so overjoyed because God had heard and answered her prayer, and her first reaction was praise. After all, shouldn't prayer and praise go hand in hand?
God has been teaching me a lot about prayer, and there are a few things I've learned.
1) Expect God to work and pray for big things.
If we are seeking the Lord's will and praying for things, we have to believe that He will do those things. I know too many times I would ask God for something but not really believe it would happen. A great example of this is when I was preparing to go overseas last Christmas break. I had to raise a lot of money in a short amount of time, so I prayed about it. In all honestly, I expected to have to do the work myself. But God proved me wrong, as He often does, and He supplied all the money in 2 weeks. 2 weeks!
A verse that helps me with this principle is Psalm 5:3, "In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation." (NIV). The word that really gets me there is "expectation". It's not just about presenting our requests then going out and trying to make them happen. It's about trusting God to do something about it. This also encourages me to pray big prayers. If God says He will answer, then why not ask for big things? After all, God is more than capable to do anything we could imagine to ask.
2) Specific prayers get specific answers.
This one is one that I have been learning about very recently. (The exact quote is from John Strappazon.) A lot of times, my prayers fall into the habit of looking like, "God, bless those people around me, and use me in some way, and be glorified." Which is great; God can still answer that. However, when I ask for more specific things, such as "God, show me this week what I am passionate about," or even, "God, please provide for me in this way tomorrow", he answers in those ways. John 14:13 says, "Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." (ESV). Last week, I prayed the prayer about God revealing my passions. Guess what? He did, and because of what He showed me, I am reflecting on what direction He wants me to take and how to use those passions for His glory.
3) God always answers.
I've never had God leave a prayer unanswered, even when I thought He wasn't listening. He always answers either "yes", "no", or "wait". (I've found that "wait" is very common in my life...perhaps He knows how that is something I need to work on...) If we are seeking God, He's not going to ignore us. Jeremiah 29:13 says, "You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart." (ESV). He doesn't hide from us, and in the same way, He doesn't ignore our cries. And since God is all-knowing, he already knows what we need and is preparing it for us! As my wise friend Nathan once said, " I love it how God works stuff out in advance so that your current prayers are answered. It just goes to show how time really isn't an issue for God. A prayer prayed tomorrow could have saved someone's life yesterday..." That's such a great perspective of seeing how God answers, even when it's not according to our sense of time.
4) He knows your heart, but He still wants to hear from you.
One of my favorite verses is Psalm 38:9 - "Oh Lord, all my longing is before You, my sighing is not hidden from You." It is encouraging to know that God hears our cries, even when they're hidden in our hearts. However, He still wants to hear from us. You may know your sibling, friend, or significant other very well, but if you never have a conversation, the relationship will begin to deteriorate. God wants to hear from us. Psalm 50:15 says, "Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me." (ESV). There is a lot to unpack in that one verse. God wants us to trust Him to take care of us and to call upon Him. He says He will answer. Also, our prayers bring glory to God, which is what He desires and deserves.
5) Don't pray for something you aren't ready to receive.
I say this half-jokingly and half-seriously. God says over and over that He will answer our prayers, but they aren't always answered the way we want them to be. Last fall, I prayed a lot that God would draw me closer to Him and make me rely on Him more. He definitely answered, but not in ways I liked. He put me in hard and sometimes painful situations in order to answer that. At the time, I didn't understand what He was doing, but looking back on it, He answered my prayers in real, tangible ways. The key is to remember the truth from Romans 8:28 - that He works all things for our good.
Obviously, this isn't everything there is to know about prayer, and it's not even all the things He's teaching me. However, these 5 things have made a huge impact in my life.
One more thing to mention? Go back and look through prayer journals or think of prayers you've prayed. See how God has answered them and how He's been faithful, because I guarantee that He has.
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