I also feel Jesus calling me into a season of individual prayer. While prayer partners has been a great addition to our team's culture, my personal prayer times have been lacking, which is why I feel led to devote more time to prayer. It's through those times – just me and God – that I will develop the intimacy with Jesus that my heart desperately longs for.
At the beginning of the month, Kirby read us a Facebook post from one of her friends about 12 big prayers she wrote at the beginning of 2012, prayers that she couldn't answer herself, but required God's assistance. Kirby's friend went on to challenge others to write 13 impossible prayers for 2013.
We loved the idea so much that each of us wrote 13 impossible prayers for 2013 – things we are beliving God for, that ONLY he can make possible.
Last month was a hard month for me and my father encouraged me to pray:
"God, do what only you can do!"
A few days after writing my 13 impossible prayers, God confirmed that it is his will for us to desire what's humanly impossible because it results in deeper dependence on him:
"True dependence is NOT simply asking Me to bless what YOU have decided to do. It is coming to Me with an open mind and heart, inviting Me to plant My desires within you. I may infuse within you a dream that seems far beyond your reach. You know that in yourself you cannot achieve such a goal. Thus begins your journey of profound reliance on Me. It is a faith-walk, taken one step at a time, leaning on Me as much as you need." Jesus Calling (January 5)
A few days after initiating our prayer groups and sharing our 13 impossible prayers with each other, Jesus hit me with another word through Jesus Calling, which speaks to the importance of thanking him for the way he IS/WILL answer my prayers!
"When you bring Me your prayer requests, lay out your concerns before Me. Speak to Me candidly; pour out your heart. Then THANK ME for the answers that I have set into motion long before you can discern results. When your requests come to mind again, continue to thank Me for the answers that are on the way. If you keep on stating your concerns to Me, you will live in a state of tension. When you thank Me for how I am answering your prayers, your mind-set becomes much more positive. Thankful prayers keep your focus on My presence and My promises." Jesus Calling (January 11)
I can attest to this – I have lived in a constant state of tension after continually asking the Lord to answer one specific prayer request. Subconsciously, I held it against him – if he wasn't going to answer that prayer, I wasn't going to trust him with my heart; I wouldn't ask for anything else.
Thanking God for his answer, rather than continually asking for the same thing, does lead to positivity! It has enabled me to present my requests though the outpouring of my heart, then I continue to lift that prayer to him by thanking him for his answer.
"As for me, I look to the Lord for help. I wait confidently for God to save me, and my God will certainly hear me!" Micah 7:7
