When should we pray? Do we even know what to pray for? These sound like easy questions to answer and indeed one of them is... do you know which one? If I asked you to kneel with me right now, how would you begin?
All in God’s Will
When should we pray? Do we even know what to pray for? These sound like easy questions to answer and indeed one of them is... do you know which one? If I asked you to kneel with me right now, how would you begin?
Being humble and meek are not weaknesses, but requires a great deal of strength, and fortitude. Standing before our inquisitors, our own versions of Pontius Pilot, and remaining silent, takes much more courage than to rattle off a series of defenses out of panic and fear. As Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, an Angel came, and He received increased strength to face what lay ahead. When we are facing our own hardships we should not pray that the trouble we will face as we do God’s will should be taken away, but that we be given the strength to complete the task and the courage to endure the trials that we will face in so doing. How are we praying today? Are we asking for smooth sailing, or the courage to step out of our boat, and the strength of faith needed to walk across the water to Jesus?
When we first come to know Jesus, what are our desires? What is it that we want from the relationship that has drawn us to Him? When we pledge ourselves to follow Him, and go down in the waters of baptism, we begin a spiritual transformation that changes who we are, and it alters our initial desires as well. In this way, after we have walked with Jesus for a while, we find that perhaps some of our earlier wants were satisfied, but that a great many of them have fallen to the wayside… they fell victim to our change; our blossoming righteousness; our purification, and the will of God.
Do we place our will ahead of the will of God? Do we feel that what we want for our life should have a greater weight than what God would have us do? To dispel this notion we needn’t look any further than Jesus as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, and the words He spoke regarding the subjugation of His will to God’s. We all have a personal will for our lives just as Jesus did when He prayed, but as children of God, and having placed Him above all else, then His will becomes master over everything in our life... even our own will, and greatest desires.
A stranger asks you to pray for them, so what do you do? A fellow believer in your church is overcome by illness, and asks for prayer, how do you respond? A friend is stricken lame, or becomes blind... what is your recourse? When we are asked to pray for someone, or something, we should seek God’s Will in this request, and when the Holy Spirit affirms that this request is in conformance with God’s Will, then we should pray fervently, and expectantly.
We must be careful in doing those things we think that God would have us do. So often we go about the job of accomplishing what we think is God’s will for us when it is actually our own contrived desire, and not His at all. Be cautious friends so that before it is time for us to take action we have thoroughly sought out, and understood, what it is that He expects of us... His will.