I’ve been learning what it means for God to find favor with someone. I’ve seen people pray for things and God blow their minds and do crazy awesome things.
But God’s answer isn’t always “yes”.
Last month our squad leaders partnered with my team for 10 days at our ministry site. The day they left it was pouring rain, which makes the roads in the mountains where we were very, very dangerous.
So, for the next week, we prayed against rain on the day we had to leave. It was a bright and beautiful week with lots of sunshine that looked promising. Then we woke up on the morning we were leaving, and sure enough, it was raining.
Despite the rain, the day we left was full of goodbyes and last-minute things, and was overall a smooth travel day for our team. We ended up running into more people to say goodbye to in the city on our way to the bus station.
God doesn’t just answer our requests like some genie. He has a far greater plan than we can even imagine. Lately I’ve been learning the power of prayer. Sure, it’s a catchy cliché, but it’s so, so, so true.
Prayer is relevant to every situation. It’s a way to include God where you’re working alongside Him. It’s how we tune into what He’s actually saying and not trying to just guess what He wants.
I’ve mentioned this before, but my prayer life has transitioned from silent mental prayers into a verbal one-on-one with God. Verbalizing my prayers not only keeps me from getting distracted, but also helps me to put my thoughts into words. Sometimes I even write them down so I can come back to them later.
For me, prayer is more than just about asking for requests from God. It looks like asking the hard questions such as Why do I feel resentment toward this person? or Show me the sin in my life that isn’t obvious. And then there is time for listening. I learned a few months ago that prayer doesn’t mean talking the whole time and then moving on.
The all-knowing God wants to know your heart. I talk to Him just as if He were a person standing in front of me. I’ve been angry with Him. I have yelled and screamed and cried out of anger. I’ve also given praises to Him in the little (or big!) things. And every time He is always right and comforts me regardless.
Some people are apprehensive to get angry with God. But truth is, things aren’t always going to go your way. People are going to fail you and not live up to your expectations. God isn’t going to answer your prayers exactly as you want them. And that’s okay.
I think it’s wise to go to God when you’re in the heat of the moment because that’s when your true emotions are happening. It keeps you from sugar-coating things and thinking that something is less important than it really is later.
I think so often we get distracted with knowing God and talking about Him and asking others what they know about Him that we forget to ask Him directly.
I know for me, it kept me from bringing the little things to God. It turned into me thinking I could do the little things on my own and eventually led to me thinking I could do things better than God.
By praying in every single situation, we can be sure that our aim is to seek His direction. By talking to Him directly, we can always keep our focus on the goal. And in the times your prayers aren’t answered in the ways that you hoped for, just remember that God is an all-knowing God who has a bigger plan that doesn’t always make sense to us.
I challenge you to go talk to God right now and leave room for listening prayer.
