Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. – James 5: 13-16.
Imagine, for a moment, that your birthday is coming up. You hate surprises, so your best friend or spouse decides that they are going to tell you exactly what gift they are going to give you for the day of the celebration. It is a brand new laptop. You are so excited, because it has all of the bells and whistles you could possibly want. In fact, you have been waiting a while for this exact model. The catch to this present is the fact that you will get it on the day of your birthday; not a day sooner. Your companion never tells you what exact time you will get it, but she promises you that you will get it before midnight that day. So, you have to be patient and, since she has never lied to you and has always been a great friend, there is no reason to think she would not come through. It is so hard to wait, though.
A couple of days before your birthday, you happen to be at the electronics store, picking up a charger for your phone. You then decide to look at the laptop you have drooled over for weeks and when you look at the price you notice it is on sale, so you decide to buy it just in case your friend for some reason doesn’t come through.
When you reveal to your friend that you bought the laptop, how do you think she would feel? I would think she would feel hurt because you didn’t believe that she would come through. You made a backup plan because of your worry and doubt. She not only planned to buy you this gift, but secretly wanted to give it to you preloaded with all the software you needed for your favorite hobby. When you told her of your purchase, she returned what she had bought and prepared for you days earlier.
We do this with God don’t we? When it comes to prayer, it can be tempting to come to God with our petitions, but still attempt to run ourselves ragged creating a backup plan in case He does not come through. Some of us even feel guilty when we pray because we think we need to keep ourselves busy in the meantime.
What if we prayed desperately and expected God to move so much that we did not even have a plan B? This is a scary thought, but it also is the way we are called to live. Sure, often God calls us to action and says that we are the solution, but let’s not try to force His hand.
The fact is, God has great plans for us and His promises in His word are abundant and encouraging. Our timing is not His timing, but if we will just have confidence in His provision and anticipate His actions, then we will find that His solution is much more than we could imagine. It will be right.
He has never failed before and He has not forgotten about you. Keep praying in anticipation.
Prayer for today: God, forgive me of the times when I became impatient with my prayers. Fill me and help me to rest in the fact that you are always on time. Amen.
This post was written by Rev DeCrastos.
You can find his blog here: www.ministrysauce.com
Imagine, for a moment, that your birthday is coming up. You hate surprises, so your best friend or spouse decides that they are going to tell you exactly what gift they are going to give you for the day of the celebration. It is a brand new laptop. You are so excited, because it has all of the bells and whistles you could possibly want. In fact, you have been waiting a while for this exact model. The catch to this present is the fact that you will get it on the day of your birthday; not a day sooner. Your companion never tells you what exact time you will get it, but she promises you that you will get it before midnight that day. So, you have to be patient and, since she has never lied to you and has always been a great friend, there is no reason to think she would not come through. It is so hard to wait, though.
A couple of days before your birthday, you happen to be at the electronics store, picking up a charger for your phone. You then decide to look at the laptop you have drooled over for weeks and when you look at the price you notice it is on sale, so you decide to buy it just in case your friend for some reason doesn’t come through.
When you reveal to your friend that you bought the laptop, how do you think she would feel? I would think she would feel hurt because you didn’t believe that she would come through. You made a backup plan because of your worry and doubt. She not only planned to buy you this gift, but secretly wanted to give it to you preloaded with all the software you needed for your favorite hobby. When you told her of your purchase, she returned what she had bought and prepared for you days earlier.
We do this with God don’t we? When it comes to prayer, it can be tempting to come to God with our petitions, but still attempt to run ourselves ragged creating a backup plan in case He does not come through. Some of us even feel guilty when we pray because we think we need to keep ourselves busy in the meantime.
What if we prayed desperately and expected God to move so much that we did not even have a plan B? This is a scary thought, but it also is the way we are called to live. Sure, often God calls us to action and says that we are the solution, but let’s not try to force His hand.
The fact is, God has great plans for us and His promises in His word are abundant and encouraging. Our timing is not His timing, but if we will just have confidence in His provision and anticipate His actions, then we will find that His solution is much more than we could imagine. It will be right.
He has never failed before and He has not forgotten about you. Keep praying in anticipation.
Prayer for today: God, forgive me of the times when I became impatient with my prayers. Fill me and help me to rest in the fact that you are always on time. Amen.
This post was written by Rev DeCrastos.
You can find his blog here: www.ministrysauce.com
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