Lately, I have been considering the act of prayer in my
personal life: why I pray, how I pray, and when I pray. It turns out that although I pray often, I do
not pray intentionally. Intentionally is
a fancy way of saying with a plan and purpose.
The reality is, I usually pray in desperate, exhausted moments; after I
have tried all other modes of fixing and have finally realized in my own
strength I can do nothing about the current issue or situation. I have a close friend who calls this moment:
“coming to the end of one’s self.” I
like to think of it as: “the edge of the world moment.”
You see, once upon a time, geographical experts believed the world was flat and you could in fact sail to the edge. Not sure what they would find at the edge: sea monsters, an awesome waterfall, the abyss; fear consumed them and they advised sailors not to push the boundaries, to stay out of uncharted territory. Sometimes, I am like those so-called geographical experts; I too fear the edge of the world, metaphorically of course. I too, advise myself to not travel into uncharted waters; to stay close to the known and to avoid the unknown. The known, equals my control over a situation, or my imagined control over said situation. The unknown is me letting God have the issue in prayer and not trying to control the situation.
James 1:
2-8 says:
2 Dear brothers and sisters,
when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great
joy. 3 For you know that when your
faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when
your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing
nothing.
5 If you
need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not
rebuke you for asking. 6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is
in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled
as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. 7 Such people should not expect to receive
anything from the Lord. 8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the
world, and they are unstable in everything they do.
 |
| How Branch Girls sail into uncharted territories |
According
to God’s word, I should let it go. (Stop
singing now!) I should give to God
intentionally, through prayer, all my troubles and I should ask for wisdom in
how to deal with life’s trials. You see,
it is simple, but hard. I simply go to
God and tell him what I need and he handles it.
The hard part comes in verse six.
I am not to waver, to doubt, to be tossed by the waves of
indecision. I am to trust, to lean into
God alone, not myself. I am not the one
who fixes, that is God’s job. I am not the
captain, I am simply a crew member. I
need to seek His plan first, then focus on carrying it out. The secret is: One will never know his plan
unless one seeks Him first. That means I
cannot develop my own plan to solve a supplication (fancy word for deep need),
then go to God tell Him my plan and expect Him to act accordingly to my already
decided solution. The crew member does not know better than the captain. So here is the challenge: Pray, seeking God’s guidance first and not
your own. Let your requests be known to
God and wait on