Good afternoon! Today I am sharing a previously published post I came across because I realized as I read it that I needed to hear it again and thought maybe you did as well.
I pray that your week is going well. If not, then I’m still praying for you.
And prayer is what I want to talk about today. I want to encourage you to expand your prayer life. Now most of the time when a pastor issues a challenge concerning prayer it typically has to do with the rhythm, frequency, or duration of your prayers but not this time. This time…
I CHALLENGE YOU TO PRAY UNCOMFORTABLE PRAYERS
And what is an uncomfortable prayer you might ask? I would define it as any prayer that doesn’t fit easily into our Christian Comfort Zone such as…
- asking God to meet a GOD-SIZED need (something we can’t control)
- asking God AGAIN for something that we still haven’t seen any fruit from (be persistent)
- asking God to use you to be an answer to someone else’s prayer
- asking God to place HIS AGENDA ahead of yours
- asking God to do a miracle (putting Him on the line w/out a Plan B)
- asking God why such and such did or didn’t happen to you (real emotions w/out being pc)
- asking God for something publicly (like blessing your food in a crowded restaurant)
- asking God for healing and forgiveness (confessing your sin)
- asking God for the strength to forgive others
- Asking God to bless your enemies
You get the picture. Sometimes we get stuck lifting up prayers to God that are short, sweet, safe, and sanitized. What God wants, and what we often need, though is to go off script and have a real conversation with God without pretense. David excelled in this as we see in the Psalms like in…
Psalm 13:1-6 “How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? 3 Look on me and answer, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death; 4 my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall. 5 But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. 6 I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me.”
So follow David’s lead and let God hear your real thoughts, your real fears, your real desires, your real doubts, and your real requests. He already knows what they are anyway so in being real with God we will actually start to be real with ourselves. And that’s when God can start responding to our requests in really awesome ways!
Refill with Randy 