Believe and give thanks.

A friend and I were talking many months ago about prayer...about having the faith to not only ask the Almighty God for something but to thank Him for it before it has even been visibly answered. Wow! That is the sort of faith I want to have...faith in knowing that He will answer and it will be the best answer...and faith to thank Him and praise Him for it before I can see it for myself. That takes faith.

"...whatever you ask for in prayer...believe..." Mark 11:24

I pray that we will be a generation that prays...and a generation that has such great faith and trust in the One we pray to that we would thank Him for His answers. I'm praying for many things that I don't know the answer to...but I know I can thank Him for listening, thank Him for the answers yet to be revealed to me while I "...sit still until you know how the matter will turn out..." (Ruth 3:18).

And I've been thanking Him for His faithfulness to me this year...the year 2012. It hasn't happened yet. But I know my God and I know He will be faithful so I can thank Him before He has shown me all the ways He will be faithful to me this year.

"...pray until you believe God--until with whole hearted sincerity you can thank Him for the answer...there is nothing that solidifies faith as being so sure of the answer that you can thank God for it..." Streams in the Desert, January 4

Praying, Waiting, Exalting

John Heller spoke last Sunday on one of my favorite verses. He was speaking on the 10 lepers where 9 did not return thanks and then he took us to Isaiah 30:18 that says:

"Therefore, will the Lord wait, that He may be
gracious to you and there He will be exalted..."

John spoke on the fact that an immediate answer to our prayers is not always the answer that will be the best for us or will glorify the Lord the most. Perhaps, there are things that need to change in me, or perhaps in circumstances around me, for the answer to be the best for me. Perhaps time just needs to pass. Whatever the case, the Lord is waiting because He wants to receive the glory. And, for me, that brings comfort. To know that it's not that the Lord is ignoring my prayers or holding out on me. He is waiting so that He will receive the most glory. And, if it means that I wait all my life for an answer and He receives the most glory by the way I respond in waiting, than that is what I want. Everything is designed for His glory.

I say these things, but I must be honest that my heart doesn't quite fully follow in this line of thinking yet. I sometimes struggle with really desiring the Lord's will for my life if it means that what I want won't be fulfilled. That statement brings out the reality of my childish heart...to desire what I want over what is God's best for me. I read it in scripture, I know it in my mind, that it is best to be in God's will but sometimes it is hard for my heart to follow in suit.

What I have realized, too, is my sinful heart in how I approach my prayers to the Lord. Sadly, oftentimes, I am "doubting God's ability to bring it about...expressing a kind of 'hope fatigue' and resignation...a strong current of unbelief toward God."* Whatever my prayer is for-healing from illness, salvation of a soul, provisions for my needs, etc- I seem to be so surprised when I see the Lord answer my petitions because in my heart I am minimizing God's ability to bring it to pass.

So I have been challenged this year to "pray things through" (George Dawson), to not just present them before the Lord once or twice but to be faithful to the fulfillment of an answer (yes or no!). I have been challenged to be committed to pray boldly to the Lord with unwavering faith that He WILL answer me ("you have not because you ask not") when He will be glorified the most...and that He will help my heart to truly desire His exaltation over my own need for an immediate answer.


*Quoted from Radical Womanhood: Woman Praying Boldly

My prayer for you this year

I am having trouble sleeping tonight and so have been sitting here reading and thinking. I have been thinking about how I want to pray for my loved ones this year. I have been thinking about what I want to see the Lord do in your lives and that I want to see you "be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God..." (Colossians 1:9-10) Sounds like a pretty lofty goal, right?! But, I figure that if Paul could pray that for the people at Colosse than surely I can pray it for you too!

As my mind has been drawn to prayer this evening, I was wonderfully encouraged and surprised when I opened up my One Day at a Time devotional by William McDonald and saw that it's all about a prayer for the year. And so tonight, before I lay my head on my pillow to hopefully finally drift off to sleep, I will be praying these things for my life and for yours in this New Year! (The following is taken from One Day at a Time. It has been modified and is not quoted in its entirety.)

Lord Jesus, I rededicate myself afresh to You today. I want You to take my life this coming year and use it for Your glory. "Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee."

I pray that You will keep me from sin, from anything that will bring dishonor to Your name.

Keep me teachable by the Holy Spirit. I want to move forward for You. Don't let me settle in a rut.

May my motto this year be, "He must increase; I must decrease." The glory must all be Yours. Help me not to touch it.

Teach me to make every decision a matter of prayer. I dread the thought of leaning on my own understanding. "I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." (Jer. 10:23)

May I die to the world and even to the approval or blame of loved ones or friends. Give me a single, pure desire to do the things that please Your heart.

Help me to speak what is edifying and profitable.

Give me tears of compassion for the perishing.

Help me to be a good steward of everything you have entrusted to me.

Help me to remember that my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. May this tremendous truth influence all my behavior.

I pray that this may be the year of Your return. I long to see Your face and to fall at Your feet in worship. During the coming year, may the blessed hope stay fresh in my heart, disengaging me from anything that would hold me here and keeping me on the tiptoes of expectancy. "Even so, come, Lord Jesus."

Amen.