A Prayer

I tend to let my thoughts wander when I pray....which can be a good thing if being led by God to pray for people that need it. However, sometimes I feel kind of defeated when I feel like I don't stay on track (squirrel!)  ;)  I do better writing/typing. It helps to organize my thoughts....and hopefully, makes me more open to where God leads.

Dear God:
I get so overwhelmed and frustrated just reading one Facebook page of prayer requests. I don't understand how You can handle ALL of this from ALL of us. However, I do know that I don't have to understand to know that you hear our prayers.

Thank you that you are available 24/7....when insomnia (or stubbornness) keeps me up late let me use my time more wisely. Thank you that you promise to take the cares of this world on Yourself so that we can move through another day. Thank you that you hear the cries of my heart and can make sense of them....even when I can't. Please help me to make You my first line of defense in spiritual warfare and when darkness threatens to block out the light.

Thank you for the beauty of summer. Thank you for the beauty of the people around me....that don't or can't see it in themselves. Thank you that You have made each of us to be a specific piece in the puzzle of life. Thank you for the feeling of peace when there is little to no reason to feel peaceful.

In Jesus name, I pray for people that are sick, hurting (physically and/or mentally), exhausted, overwhelmed, are grief stricken, lonely, questioning or don't even know You enough to trust You. I pray that our eyes will be opened to the small gifts you bring into our day if we're willing to see it as more than circumstance. I pray that our perceptions do not need to become our reality. I pray that emotional ties and generational curses will be broken where necessary.

Thank you that even when we have doubts about You, You can get past the logic in our minds and get to the tender places of our hearts and souls. You made us to be in a relationship with You. The world is getting so tied up in religion we often look past that fact.

Please forgive me for the times that I have used my words or actions to hurt instead of help. Please forgive me for wasting precious time on things that don't really matter. We don't know what tomorrow holds....or even the next few minutes.

Help me to realize that if the answer is no that doesn't mean you did not hear me, but that You might have other plans that in the long run will work out better than I can imagine.

So I'm back to not understanding, but trying to get more comfortable with the idea that I don't always have to.

And all God's people said.....Amen

Psalm 147:3-5 (NIV) He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.

A Prayer for the Ephesians
Ephesians 3:14-21 (NIV)

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.  Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

What would YOU ask for?

Matthew 7:7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. (NIV)

At Christmas time, we think of giving and getting gifts. We may or may not get what we ask for. Sometimes it costs too much or we can't find the requested item. We may have a hard time asking for what we need. Maybe it's not a gift. Maybe we wish we could have a different quality about our personality or something that is not a "thing". It is not really something somebody can give us. Then what?

Seeking God is wise. It makes sense. How come it seems so easy to go our own way, but then we look back and realize if we would have made God part of the process the way would have been easier?

What if God himself asked you what you wanted? What an amazing thought! It could be ANYTHING! Would we be smart enough to ask for a virtue (a commendable quality or trait) and not a thing? David's son, Solomon, was asked that question....and he picked wisdom (ability to discern inner qualities and relationships/good sense)!

1 Kings 3: 5 That night the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!” 6 Solomon replied, “You showed faithful love to your servant my father, David, because he was honest and true and faithful to you. And you have continued your faithful love to him today by giving him a son to sit on his throne. 7 “Now, O Lord my God, you have made me king instead of my father, David, but I am like a little child who doesn’t know his way around. 8 And here I am in the midst of your own chosen people, a nation so great and numerous they cannot be counted! 9 Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong. For who by himself is able to govern this great people of yours?”
10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom. 11 So God replied, “Because you have asked for wisdom in governing my people with justice and have not asked for a long life or wealth or the death of your enemies—12 I will give you what you asked for! I will give you a wise and understanding heart such as no one else has had or ever will have! 13 And I will also give you what you did not ask for—riches and fame! No other king in all the world will be compared to you for the rest of your life! 14 And if you follow me and obey my decrees and my commands as your father, David, did, I will give you a long life.”
15 Then Solomon woke up and realized it had been a dream. (NLT)

It may have been a dream, but Solomon did become known as the wisest man who ever lived. He governed with understanding and wrote many Proverbs that we still refer back to today. He got what he asked for and even more!

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. (NIV)

What are the desires of your heart? God still offers us the ability to ask.

Ask, seek, knock....God, Thanks for opening the door and letting me ask for what I need. Today, my top need is _______.