Today I'd like to share the devotion I received in my email yesterday. It seems very timely, given the number of prayer requests posted recently. As I get older and have had more life experiences, it seems to be a bit easier to understand the idea of praying for God's will... easier at least than it was years ago. It is completely natural to pray for what we perceive to be the best possible outcome for a given situation. In doing so, we often base those prayers on our own desires with our limited understanding of how God can work and what we see as the immediate need. I've heard life described as a parade where each event or situation is represented by a float. We see the parade one float at a time from our vantage point. God has the Goodyear blimp view of the parade (our lives) where he sees the whole parade from beginning to end at one time.
Praying the Will of God
By Michael Youssef, Ph.D.
There's a lot we can learn from Daniel's prayer in Daniel 9. The past couple of days we have looked at several key components from that prayer. Today we will look at one more important component.
Pray the will of God. In verse 19, Daniel prayed, "O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name." How can you be assured that you are praying for God's will, and not your own to be done? Jesus said that we are to seek first the things of God and that God would respond by taking care of our needs.
Immerse yourself in the Word of God. The more you know the mind of God, the more you will begin to understand what He wants for your life. As you pray for specific requests, always check them against Scripture. You can be sure God's desires for you will never go against His Word. As you read God's Word and study it, ask the Lord to give you a greater awareness of specific promises that He wants you to pray about and believe for.
We must pray with praise on our lips, a confession of our sin, and with a petition that God will act in the way that accomplishes His purposes and brings Him glory. Then, we must listen very closely to what God may lead us to say or do. God uses individual people to accomplish His purposes. Be willing to be used.
Prayer: Lord God, Your love and greatness overwhelm me. I pray that You would align my heart with Yours, that my prayers would be in keeping with Your will. Amen.
"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up" (Galatians 6:9).
