Status report

Ok, so I made all these great promises to myself on this very public forum and here it is one week later and I haven't done well. I have yet to set foot on my treadmill. I have not updated my prayer partners. I have not spent the no-TV time with my family. I am posting this week. I have done more private praying and I am expecting God to do more than I could ever think or imagine. So I guess 50% is not so bad.

But prayer is what I want to dwell on today. We are doing a study on prayer at our weekly prayer meeting. Two weeks ago, we looked at a concept that I never really thought of before and I am trying to implement it in my prayers. It is not easy. I have been praying the same way for all of my life, and this new concept is only 2 weeks old. I have to learn to be patient with myself.

Here is the concept that is giving me such a challenge. When we pray, do we give God the answer we are looking for? Or, do we just lay the concern before Him and trust that He will take care of it in His perfect way? Let me illustrate. In John 2, when Mary, the mother of Jesus, came to Him at the wedding feast, she did not come to Him and say, "Jesus, they are out of wine, make some wine." Instead, she said, "Jesus, they are out of wine." Then she told the servants to do whatever Jesus asked them to do. She knew Jesus would take care of it in the perfect way. Throughout the book of Acts, we see prayer meetings where the concerns were raised, but never the answers. The more I have studied this idea, the more Biblical I find it to be. Instead of praying the answers, we should pray the problems. God is big enough, wise enough, powerful enough, and loving enough to solve our problems in a perfect way. So, as a challenge, try to lay your concerns before God without dictating what you want to Him. Be patient with yourself, for most of us, this will be a new way to pray.

May God bless your desire to pray His way.