I was once counseling a woman that was seeking healing for her marriage. She wanted my opinion and advice on how to move forward in her situation, and my response was that she should pray, and seek God's direction in the matter. She wanted me to give her steps to take, but I continually responded that she should take the matter to God. And I'll never forget her response to me, she responded that in the wake of everything going on in her marriage, “Must I just pray?” And I couldn't stop thinking of what she said. That was some time ago, and even to this day, what she said still randomly pops up in my mind. Because although we might not voice those words out loud, we’ve all had that thought. With everything going on, must we just pray?Earlier this week, I took some time to think about that question. I thought about the times that we feel like praying isn’t enough. Because that’s the real meaning behind the question, isn’t it? It’s almost our perception of prayer. As we pray, we feel like we are doing the right thing in bringing it to God, but somewhere, deep down, we still feel like we have to take matters into our own hands, for the situation to change. We still feel like we must put forth our education, our wisdom, our effort and energy, in order for the situation to improve. This perception is embedded into our minds. Unless we work for it, we won’t see a positive change in our lives. But I have a question to ask. Why then, do we pray? If we are going to proceed with the plans that we’ve made using our own wisdom, why even involve God? Because that is what we do, everyday. We pray, “God, please help me with my marriage.” But then we proceed to conjure up a plan on how we can fix our marriage. Or we pray, “God, help us in the area of our career or finances.” But we then proceed to make a plan on how we are going to achieve success based on what is modeled by others. But, the thing is that we could have done all of this without praying. We don’t need prayer to make a plan. We don’t need to seek God for answers that we already have in all our wisdom. So why then do we pray? We pray because we don’t have all the answers, right? Just think about this. What area of your life are you praying about? Up until this point, you have been in control of that situation. So how is that working out? How is your marriage? How are your finances? Do you feel satisfied and fulfilled in your career? How is your ever changing journey of parenting going? Are these areas of your life flourishing? I’ll assume that, if you are praying for any of these areas, you need God to give you assistance, discernment, or wisdom that you can not receive from any where else. And this, is why we pray.But, we must come to Him with a heart of humility. Why? Well, when we pray, we are acknowledging that we don’t have all the answers. We are letting God know that He knows all things, and we don’t. And as we pray, we are asking for His help, because we either have tried on our own and weren’t successful, or we are seeking His will in the matter.Though the Lord is great, he cares for the humble, but he keeps his distance from the proud. (Psalms 138:6 NLT)This is why our posture, as we seek guidance from God, is important. He is close to us, only when we are genuinely seeking answers from Him. He speaks to us, only when we are humble enough to listen. He leads us, only when we are willing to follow. But, we must also be willing to remain still.If we go to God, without waiting on His answer, we will miss the glory that He wants to manifest through our lives. But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31 NKJV)This scripture implies that we will have to wait on God. In other words, we will not always receive the answer to our prayers on our timeline, or when it is most convenient for our situation. But, His response will always provide what we need, when we need it.God’s plans for us are not always comfortable, but they are always purposeful. So as we wait on God, we must remember that He has a higher purpose for our lives. And as He answers our prayers, it will always be according to the plan that He has already set before us. What happens when we pray, without staying to listen? What happens when we ask for His help, but because of a lack of patience, we move without Him? We end up missing the very answer that we were looking for. Prayer is faith.When we earnestly seek help from God, through prayer, we are acting in faith. Regardless of the situation that we are facing, our prayers prove that we believe that our heavenly Father cares, and we believe that He will work in our situation.Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops. (James 5:17-18 NLT)The question is whether or not we are praying earnestly as Elijah did. Elijah prayed intently until he received what he was praying for. And this is what we must do, if we believe that the One that we are praying to, hears us when we call on Him. The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers. But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil.” (1 Peter 3:12 NLT)And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for. (1 John 5:14-15 NLT)If we are confident that our Father hears our prayers, we must also be confident that He has a response.We must understand this. What is the point of praying if we don’t believe God hears us? And if we believe God hears us, why don’t we believe He will answer us? But the word of God says that He hears us when we ask for those things that please Him. And what are those things? They are the things that He has written in His word. Those things that He has spoken over us…healing and wholeness in every area of our lives, favor and blessing in every area of our lives. Why do we not think that He hears us regarding those things that He’s said about us? We are His children; and we are joint heirs with Christ. When we speak the word of God over ourselves, and call on Him to provide what His word says, He is listening. And His word says that since He hears us, He will give us what we ask for. But, we do not have control over how God answers our prayers. And as I prayed this morning, concerning the promises of God, He said, “Let your guard down.” He told me that the preferences that I have for my life, have caused me to build a wall around myself. He said that there is a barrier between myself and anything that doesn’t look like my plan. And He told me that if I continue to cling to those things that make my life comfortable, I will miss out on what He has for me. He said that His plan lies outside of my personal preferences for my life. In order to attain what He has for me, I must first lay down what I want for my life.Remember what happened to Lot’s wife! If you cling to your life, you will lose it, and if you let your life go, you will save it. (Luke 17:32-33 NLT)This scripture references the account of God destroying Sodom and Gomorrah in the book of Genesis. In this story, this city and its inhabitants were destroyed because of their wickedness. But, Abraham’s nephew, Lot, and his family, were to be saved. When Lot still hesitated, the angels seized his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and rushed them to safety outside the city, for the Lord was merciful. When they were safely out of the city, one of the angels ordered, “Run for your lives! And don’t look back or stop anywhere in the valley! Escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away!” (Genesis 19:16-17 NLT)But Lot’s wife looked back as she was following behind him, and she turned into a pillar of salt. (Genesis 19:26 NLT)Lot’s wife was not able to fully leave her life behind, although she knew that it wasn’t God’s plan for her. And this is what God wants to show us, as we pray, and seek His wisdom and direction for our lives. We must be willing to let go of those things that we are clinging to.We want God to work in our lives, but we are clinging to our preferences for the situation. What if His answer lies outside of our desires. What if what He wants to do can not be accomplished within the confines of what we want? When God spoke to me, He told me that His plan is not what I want, but He also told me that His plan is so much better. When we pray, we think we know how God will respond, but the truth is, that we have no idea. Our minds can’t perceive His thoughts. Even if He wanted to tell us, we couldn’t handle it. Why do you think He never shares His full plan for our lives? Because He knows that we would either run away, or try to devise a way to make it come to pass on our own. But that isn’t what He wants.He wants to bless us, and He wants us to receive His blessings. He wants to lead us, and He wants us to depend on Him.God desires to use us in His master plan. But we have to be willing to follow Him, and walk according to His will.When I think of Moses's journey, I think of how God’s calling burned inside of him, even as a young man. But Moses did not fully understand the purpose that God had for his life, nor did he know the path that God would choose to get him there.Many years later, when Moses had grown up, he went out to visit his own people, the Hebrews, and he saw how hard they were forced to work. During his visit, he saw an Egyptian beating one of his fellow Hebrews. After looking in all directions to make sure no one was watching, Moses killed the Egyptian and hid the body in the sand. (Exodus 2:11-12 NLT)Moses felt the need to do something about the hardships that his people faced. But he attempted to accomplish God’s purpose, outside of God’s perfect timing. He killed a man, and then fled from Pharaoh’s attempt to kill him. Then he settled in the land of Midian.Years passed, and the king of Egypt died. But the Israelites continued to groan under their burden of slavery. They cried out for help, and their cry rose up to God. God heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He looked down on the people of Israel and knew it was time to But act. (Exodus 2:23-25 NLT)Moses found himself in a foreign land. He became a shepherd and raised a family. He moved on with his life. But, his people had not. They were still enslaved, and they cried out to God. And the scripture says that He heard their cries for help. He looked down on His people, “…and knew it was time to act.”This is the God that we serve. When we cry out to Him, He hears our cries, and He says, “It is time to act.”As the Israelites cried out to God, they saw nothing. The evidence that God heard their prayers was absent. But little did they know, He was raising up a man that would lead them to freedom. One day, Moses was out tending to his father-in-law's flock, and an angel of the Lord appeared in a burning bush. And as Moses saw this bush, he moved to get a closer look. And then God spoke to him. "...Look! The cry of the people of Israel has reached me, and I have seen how harshly the Egyptians abuse them. Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.” (Exodus 3:9-10 NLT)The Israelites were praying fervently for the Lord to rescue them, and Moses was the answer. But although he had the desire to see his people free, Moses still had to battle with whether or not he could become who God wanted him to be. But Moses protested to God, “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11 NLT)But Moses protested again, “What if they won’t believe me or listen to me? What if they say, ‘The Lord never appeared to you’?” (Exodus 4:1 NLT)Moses pleaded with the Lord, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.” (Exodus 4:10 NLT)Moses couldn’t reconcile God’s call, with his personal views of himself. Reading his pleas to God, it is clear that Moses doesn’t think that he is the right man for the job. Yes, he wanted God to rescue his people, but not like this, and not with him leading the way. This is not Moses’ preference. He tells God that he doesn’t have what is takes, but God does not accept Moses response. Then the Lord asked Moses, “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.” (Exodus 4:11-12 NLT)After Moses pleaded with the Lord one last time, the Lord chose Aaron to be Moses' spokesman. But that did not change who He had called Moses to be. Aaron will be your spokesman to the people. He will be your mouthpiece, and you will stand in the place of God for him, telling him what to say. And take your shepherd’s staff with you, and use it to perform the miraculous signs I have shown you.” (Exodus 4:16-17 NLT)In that moment, Moses had a choice to make. Will he choose to live the life that he’s built for himself, or will he leave his life, and his insecurities behind, to walk in purpose. And that is the real question. Will you continue to live the life that you have chosen for yourself, or will you let go, so that you can receive the answers to the prayers that you are waiting for? Because like Moses, we have no control over how God answers our prayers. So as we seek His hand on our lives, we have to be willing to humble ourselves. We have to be willing to pray fervently, and wait for His response. But we must also be willing to lay down our plans, so that we can receive His promise.It is our obedience, not our plans, that will ultimately change our lives, and the lives of those connected to us. Moses was responsible for leading an entire nation to freedom. This, was the result of his choice, what might be the result of yours?PrayerHeavenly Father, thank you for your constant attention to my prayers. I know that as I pray to you, you are listening to me, and you act on my behalf. I know that your plans for me are better than anything that I could imagine for myself. But I also know that I must be willing to let go of my plans, so that I can receive the perfect plan that you have for my life. So right now, I lay down my preference, and I seek your will for my situation. I pray that you lead me into your perfect will. Give me the strength to wait on you. I choose to follow you. In Jesus' name, amen.
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