Just. Use it in a sentence. Go ahead, try it out…
I was just on the phone with my mother. (I was very recently on the phone with my mother.)
That’s just what I expected it to look like. (That’s precisely what I expected it to look like.)
I am just about to finish what I’m doing. (I am almost about to finish what I’m doing.)
Ok, you get the point.The word just has many meanings and can be used in several different parts of speech. This word has grabbed my attention so much in the last two months, particularly in prayer.
I’ve noticed, in an environment where prayer is as much a part of each day as checking the “likes” on your Instagram photos, that the word just is used a TON in prayer, but not in the way it was really intended to be used in a sentence. For example, “God, I just ask that You blah, blah, blah” or “Father, we just lift up so and so”. The word began to haunt me. I couldn’t listen to people pray aloud in our group without it piercing my ears like nails on a chalkboard. The word just seems so passive…so safe.
Prayer, another word casually tossed about in a lot of our vocabularies without any consideration or care, has been my topic of discussion with God these last two months. Where is the magical step by step guide to prayer? How do I say things in the right order and with the correct verbiage to get God’s attention and, more importantly, to get Him to answer me? Does He prefer my long breathy attempts to repeat the same request in fourteen different ways? Or does He appreciate my short direct prayers that I are over and done with before the second hand on the clock completes a full rotation? Would He prefer that I lock myself in a dark closet and whisper my confessions to the sweater from my senior year of high school that hasn’t seen the light of day since circa 2002 (and rightfully so)? Or does He delight in my willingness to shed light on my sins in front of my fellow sisters like dirty laundry hanging on the clothes line outside? And the most daunting question of all, do prayers from little old me actually change anything?
I decided I was going to stop just asking God for things and start going before Him boldly. I wanted to figure out once and for all how to do this prayer thing and how to do it right. So, I began to journal and pray using assertive statements such as these:
Father, give me direction in (a certain area of life).
Holy Spirit, speak to me today and give me visions, dreams or a word to encourage (a sister, friend, family member).
God, show me how You love me physically today.I don’t understand You as someone I can have intimacy with.
Lord, if I am in Your will in (a certain situation), give me confirmation through (a specific sign).
Funny things happen when You get real, like "sleepover talk with the girls" real, with the Creator of the Universe. When you tell Him exactly how you feel. When you stop sugar coating your prayers and bare your heart, no matter how ugly it is. When you boldly ask for the answers to questions you have. When you get specific with Him; He loves details.
First, He sits patiently as you throw a tantrum, telling Him things like:
I don’t FEEL you.
You’ve left me to do this on my own.
I don’t hear You responding.
I can’t tell Your voice from my own.
You’re not giving me any direction.
He waits for you to finally give up the need to have it all figured out. He waits for you to surrender. He waits for You to declare assuredly what You need and want from Him. Then, He responds. Boldly. Lovingly. Clearly.
Once I started removing the word just from my prayers and began asking Him confidently for things, He began giving them to me. Last month after a two day fast and some amazing active and listening prayer time with The Lord, He did the impossible. He answered my plea in such an amazingly clear way, I could not have mistaken it for anything but Him. Again this month as I continue to pray with the same directness, as if my prayers have already been answered, He is showing up. He is speaking through my teammates, through His Word, through visions, and signs of confirmation.
Do yourself a favor…take the word just out of Your conversations with The Lord. He will blow You away with the way He responds. When you tell someone you will pray for them, do it. Your prayers have power. He is listening and is so eager to grant your honest and bold requests.
Jesus says in Luke 11, verse 9, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” ASK. Seek. Knock. He WILL answer.
