Prayer that Changes Everything

Prayer is arguably the most important component of our relationship with God. And yet, it’s one of the hardest aspects of Christianity to cultivate. At times, it can be hard to even find the words. I prayed in a journal for a lot of my life.

I later realized that the first line of every page would be an apology to God because I had gone days or even weeks without praying. And so, I would begin every prayer with guilt and shame. But that’s no way to relate to God. That guilt draws further away from Him.

My prayer life now is completely different. It’s a lot more constant now because I like God. I feel like He's with me all the time. There is a constant asking the Lord what He wants me to do, say, or know.

There is a constant conversation with God in my mind. But genuine, constant prayer does not happen overnight.

You might be at a point where you find prayer boring. You might be in a season where you’re mad at God, so you’re not praying as often. Perhaps you feel disconnected from Him. Talk to Him about it. Trust me when I say, He wants to hear all about your anger, frustration, discontentment, and whatever else you’re feeling.

Prayer is essentially about your relationship with God and how safe you are with him. But this starts with changing our view of God.

A lot of believers view God as this authoritarian figure who’s ready to crack the whip at any moment, but that’s not who He is. We have to view God as the ever-loving Father He is.

The issue of faith

I think the problem with us in prayer is that we don't believe God. We're missing the fact that this is supposed to be a supernatural exchange. We’re discussing supernatural things that are happening all around us. And because we look at each other, the problems we're facing, and the lack in our lives, we miss the whole purpose of prayer. Prayer is supposed to be about holy things that we can't even imagine are happening all around us all the time.

We have been given power and authority over the enemy. And yet, we don’t believe that. All that authority and power is accessed through a relationship with God, which means through prayer. But the enemy hates prayer. He wants us to not be in a relationship with God. He wants to destroy our relationship with God.

The reason you don't pray is you don't believe that powerful things can happen through you and around you. Because we don't believe that prayer changes anything, we don't ask for anything to change. And so, you live bored, stuck, and apathetic. We get bored with what He has and wants from us. As such, you miss all the exciting stuff that actually could be happening if you spoke to Him. So, don’t be afraid to ask Him today:

What do you want me to make of this?
What are you doing here?
How do I enter this situation?

The power of surrender

God won’t always give you the answer you want. His ways are so mysterious, yet through those ways, God changes the world.

It's the most exciting thing in the world to work with God. It changes every conversation in every room. It changes every assignment that God has put in your life. It changes absolutely everything. All of a sudden, the mundane things become the most exciting because now you are working with God for eternal purposes.

When you let go of how you want things to go and just surrender to God’s will, you’ll see the Holy Spirit move, lead, and do things that you never saw coming. Life goes from very apathetic and boring to mind-blowingly awesome.

Give up control of your life and long only for what God has for you. I know it’s easier said than done but give it a try either way. It takes prayer to get there. It takes God helping us move to that.

If you don't know what to do, start with “God, is there anything that I love more than you?” And if there is, confess it and hand it over to God. And then, His direction will get loud. You’ll know what to do, what to say, and how to fight your sin. All it takes is complete surrender. A lot of confidence comes as you surrender, and He knows that you're going to obey.

Be honest with God

Now, you can’t get to that point of surrender without being honest with God. We are often afraid to express our ‘bad’ feelings or disappointment to God. We're ashamed because we feel these emotions, but we don't think we can vocalize those feelings.

We don’t think we can express our anger or frustration to God and still be godly. We are comfortable sitting in the anger. But God is perfectly comfortable sitting with you in your anger. He's not mad back or sad. He loves it when we open up to Him about our anger at Him. God won’t hold a grudge just because you’re not comfortable with His plan for your life. Sharing our anger with God is the safest place we could be because He can handle it.

Be honest with God. Tell Him you don't know how to do this. Ask Him to help you know how to do this. God is waiting for you to bring all the messy parts to Him. He is waiting because He can help with those messy parts. He won’t always give you the answers you want, but He is with you in it.

And most importantly, come as you are

We think being godly is saying and doing all the right things, but being after God's own heart is being near and with God. That is a very different relationship. We can be a lot of things. We can be sad and grateful at the same time.

We can be disappointed and happy about a lot of parts of our life at the same time. God knows that He built us that way, and He loves us through every rollercoaster of emotions. But there's a part of us judging all the anger, frustration, pride, and everything in between.

God is not mad or disappointed. He likes you and has plans for you. He wants to walk with you and help you with what you're dealing with. He wants to be with you. He wants to be in the mess with you. We’re viewing God through human eyes, thinking he’ll judge us. But He wants to be in it with us.

We think we have to make ourselves right before God, and we don't understand the doctrine of sanctification. The doctrine of sanctification is believing that God draws you to Himself to know Him and changes your life as you go. And if you believe that, then walking with Him is the way it happens.

So, when it's broken, you go to him. When you're sad or mad, you go to him. He’ll give you perspective as you go with Him. He’ll give you hope, self-control, joy, friends, community, people who make you better, and more of His Word. He reminds you of His Word. But the way we access God is to talk to Him.

God likes you and wants a relationship with you. This wasn't an obligatory relationship He stepped into. He chose to create you, rescue you, and begin a relationship with you if you want it. He loves you, wants to be with you, and wants to hear it all. He wants to walk with you in it because He made you. So, come just as you are because He knows you.

All of us are sinners and don't deserve God, but we get God. If you want and choose Him, you get Him. And the way you do that is through prayer. Tell Him you want a relationship with Him.

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