Praying the "I want" Prayers
I don't know who may be reading this right now. Honestly, I don't even know if anybody else has clicked on this link and started this simple part of my journey with me.Why you would want to read my thoughts, I have no idea. I am definitely not an important or wise person by any means. I do not write in a deep, philosophical manner that wows the reader.
I simply share my thoughts. I share what God has worked on my heart about. Sometimes, as I write these posts, I cry because I know how much God has used this in my life.
I may not know who you are, but one thing I do know, is that God has a purpose for your life. It may sound redundant, I know, but it is so true. ;) As a Christian, it is so easy to pray for God's will to be done. It may even be something that you pray daily, but do you truly mean it? I cannot even being to describe how many times I have hoped for something, maybe even prayed for it to happen, but got discouraged when things did not go the way I wanted (did you catch that? "...the way I wanted."). That's just it. Sometimes, God's purpose for our lives, may not be what we want, but it will always be for the better. It may not seem so at the moment, but God will never make a mistake in your life. You may not understand why....but He does. He knows the future and He knows what you need in your life to either bring you closer to Him or to carry out His plan for you.
I don't know about you, but I like to plan things out and know exactly what is going to happen. That's not always the case in the Christian life. I can't grab the wheel and take control and still pray this prayer, "God, I want your will for my life." That's not how it works. It all goes back to that 5-letter word - the one that seems so simple, and yet is so complicated - TRUST.
God knew this is something that I was battling with recently. So, in His perfect will and timing, He brought a missionary to our church. This missionary came on a Wednesday night. He didn't have a meeting with us; he simply dropped in because his other meeting had been cancelled because of the virus. My pastor asked him to come back on Sunday and preach for us. His message was on, "Your Personal Part in Missions". Half-way through his message, he changed gears and started talking about trust and God's purpose. To this moment, I still don't know how this fit in with the rest of his message, but I do know that God knew I needed to hear it. I don't often cry in a service when I listen to the preaching, but in that service, I did. I sat there and cried and realized how I was failing in trusting God's purpose. God showed me that the way I was praying about something was wrong. My prayers about a particular situation in my life consisted of me saying, "Lord, I want this. Could you make this happen?" God showed me that I needed to stop praying the "I want" prayers, and start praying for God's will, no matter what might happen or no matter where it leads. It's definitely not easy, but it is totally and completely worth it.
I thought I would share with you several of the quotes that God used to speak to my heart during the Sunday morning message (there's a bunch, so be prepared :)).
"When God's purpose becomes clear for us, there is always a moment of decision. Eventually all of us will decide one of two ways, it will be either a "Yes" or a "No". You either surrender or you don't surrender. When it comes to that purpose of God in your life, you can miss it if you don't surrender. When we don't surrender, it's because of lack of trust."
"How much should you trust the Lord? Trust Him with you life. When you trust Him, He does notice."
"We are very good at asking and receiving, but to ask and receive but don't trust - there is no logic in that one."
"You express your trust by your surrender."
"What happens when you trust the Lord, you basically enable Him to use you. If we want to be used of God, but we are limping on this trusting thing, we are going to find out that we are fooling ourselves."
"The devil doesn't want us to trust in Him [God]. The devil knows how you will be used and how blessed you will be and he will do anything to hinder that."
"The Heavenly Father's love is not little or weak. He loves you and He loves me. What a mistake we will make if we don't trust Him. We are going to rob ourselves if we don't trust Him and let Him take the wheel in our life."
"Lay down your will and trust God's purpose."
Y'all, trusting God is worth it. Trusting God will bring true happiness and joy (which reminds me of a topic for next time) ;)
If you would like to hear the full message, head on over to my Facebook page where I shared the link to this sermon. It will definitely be worth your time!
I simply share my thoughts. I share what God has worked on my heart about. Sometimes, as I write these posts, I cry because I know how much God has used this in my life.
I may not know who you are, but one thing I do know, is that God has a purpose for your life. It may sound redundant, I know, but it is so true. ;) As a Christian, it is so easy to pray for God's will to be done. It may even be something that you pray daily, but do you truly mean it? I cannot even being to describe how many times I have hoped for something, maybe even prayed for it to happen, but got discouraged when things did not go the way I wanted (did you catch that? "...the way I wanted."). That's just it. Sometimes, God's purpose for our lives, may not be what we want, but it will always be for the better. It may not seem so at the moment, but God will never make a mistake in your life. You may not understand why....but He does. He knows the future and He knows what you need in your life to either bring you closer to Him or to carry out His plan for you.
I don't know about you, but I like to plan things out and know exactly what is going to happen. That's not always the case in the Christian life. I can't grab the wheel and take control and still pray this prayer, "God, I want your will for my life." That's not how it works. It all goes back to that 5-letter word - the one that seems so simple, and yet is so complicated - TRUST.
God knew this is something that I was battling with recently. So, in His perfect will and timing, He brought a missionary to our church. This missionary came on a Wednesday night. He didn't have a meeting with us; he simply dropped in because his other meeting had been cancelled because of the virus. My pastor asked him to come back on Sunday and preach for us. His message was on, "Your Personal Part in Missions". Half-way through his message, he changed gears and started talking about trust and God's purpose. To this moment, I still don't know how this fit in with the rest of his message, but I do know that God knew I needed to hear it. I don't often cry in a service when I listen to the preaching, but in that service, I did. I sat there and cried and realized how I was failing in trusting God's purpose. God showed me that the way I was praying about something was wrong. My prayers about a particular situation in my life consisted of me saying, "Lord, I want this. Could you make this happen?" God showed me that I needed to stop praying the "I want" prayers, and start praying for God's will, no matter what might happen or no matter where it leads. It's definitely not easy, but it is totally and completely worth it.
I thought I would share with you several of the quotes that God used to speak to my heart during the Sunday morning message (there's a bunch, so be prepared :)).
"When God's purpose becomes clear for us, there is always a moment of decision. Eventually all of us will decide one of two ways, it will be either a "Yes" or a "No". You either surrender or you don't surrender. When it comes to that purpose of God in your life, you can miss it if you don't surrender. When we don't surrender, it's because of lack of trust."
"How much should you trust the Lord? Trust Him with you life. When you trust Him, He does notice."
"We are very good at asking and receiving, but to ask and receive but don't trust - there is no logic in that one."
"You express your trust by your surrender."
"What happens when you trust the Lord, you basically enable Him to use you. If we want to be used of God, but we are limping on this trusting thing, we are going to find out that we are fooling ourselves."
"The devil doesn't want us to trust in Him [God]. The devil knows how you will be used and how blessed you will be and he will do anything to hinder that."
"The Heavenly Father's love is not little or weak. He loves you and He loves me. What a mistake we will make if we don't trust Him. We are going to rob ourselves if we don't trust Him and let Him take the wheel in our life."
"Lay down your will and trust God's purpose."
Y'all, trusting God is worth it. Trusting God will bring true happiness and joy (which reminds me of a topic for next time) ;)
If you would like to hear the full message, head on over to my Facebook page where I shared the link to this sermon. It will definitely be worth your time!
I LOVE this, bestest friend (outside of Christ)! We will have absolutely no regrets if we allow God to have His will and way, but we will have regrets if we do not. ����
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