Let God Decide

I've heard so often in Christendom that I am to pray for specifics.  Truth be told, I have not seen this or something like this implied in the Bible, so it's always slightly bothered me when people said this.  I know there are examples of specific prayers.  David and many of the Old Testament characters prayed for God's protection and the defeat of their enemies.  Jesus prayed that we would be one as He and the Father were one. (John 17:21)  Paul prayed that we would know "how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is." (Ephesians 3:18)  This prayers ask for pretty specific things...so the examples are there.  But the why, the how, the when is left up to the Lord.  And I think that is the key.  

Many times I pray for specific things, whether small or big, daily grind stuff or life changing events....I pray for what I want or what I think is right.  And then, when I don't get exactly what I thought should be, I lose heart and believe the Lord doesn't answer my prayers.  It happens more often than I would like.  

But after seeing this quote in a book I was reading lately, I kind of took a step back from my prayer life and thought about it.  Maybe my prayers need to be a little more "God be God" friendly.  Prayers that leave room for the Lord to work His answer in His way in His time. 

I'm not saying that we never pray for the specific things we want or need, in our lives or the lives of others...but I think maybe we should just leave the details up to God.  He knows all the sides to the story, and we do not.  His knowledge is all encompassing, ours is limited to the time and space in front of us.  And His heart is perfect love.  Everything He does is tempered with and filtered through that love.  

Thank You Lord for knowing just what we need.   Thank You for knowing how and when to answer our prayers perfectly.   Give us faith when we pray and faith when You answer in ways that don't align with our thinking.  Teach us to pray!  Lead us to pray!  Lord deepen our faith and trust in You.  In Jesus Name, amen.

Examine your prayer life and see if you are aligning to God's will or trying to align Him to yours.  

Matthew 6:7-13  “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. 8 Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him! 9 Pray like this:

Our Father in heaven,

    may your name be kept holy.

10 May your Kingdom come soon.

May your will be done on earth,

    as it is in heaven.

11 Give us today the food we need,

12 and forgive us our sins,

    as we have forgiven those who sin against us.

13 And don’t let us yield to temptation,

    but rescue us from the evil one.