Prayer Problems: Wednesday Discussions

I want to thank those of you who made comments or posed questions on prayer. I would like to focus on a question that Leslie posed. She wrote, “I often wonder if I am praying for the right thing.” That is a great question and it deserves an answer.

There are often times when we pray and nothing happens making us wonder if there is something wrong with our prayer. After all, we think that if the prayer is good, that God will surely give us what we are looking for because God is powerful enough to do everything and is a loving God who wants to help us. Three thoughts help me when I face that question.

• I need to be patient. My tendency is to want God to answer my prayer immediately. Some things take time. I may want a new job, but God has to prepare me and prepare the place where I may work. I may want my health to get better, but it will take time for my body to heal. I need to keep praying and hone in on God’s timing and God’s answer.
• I need to see prayer as a time to learn. Prayer can be a time to learn God’s plan instead of making Him give me my plan. The longer I pray, the more I have a chance to “talk” things through with God. I find that in those quiet times, God helps me to understand. I think of things differently and see something that is going to be better for me than what I originally asked for.
• I need to be reading the Bible along with prayer. The truth is that I may be praying for something that is not good for me. If I am reading scripture before or after I pray, I give God a chance to tell me His will. I will sometimes just randomly open up the bible and read whatever is on those pages. I have found God willing to help me understand and see when I am asking for something that may hurt me.

 

Thanks, Leslie for that question. I hope that this has been helpful to others as well. Because Leslie asked a great question and I have her email, I will be sending her a free copy of “six miracles of Jesus that are more than they seem”. I encourage you to keep sending me questions and comments. Next Wednesday we will look at the week’s comments. Who knows, you might get a copy of some of the devotions for your questions.