Prayer!

Prayer is something that I have always known we need to do as followers of Jesus, but sometimes I would do it just out of habit or “what I am supposed to do”. This left many of my prayers as something I did just to check off a box, not believing God would answer them, or pretty robotic. I’ve been prayer journaling since college and for so long I just did it and wouldn’t really look at where God was working. At the end of last year I began to get shaken up with the Lord. He showed me that my prayers were working, just in His time and not mine. It made me realize that persistence and bold prayers are so important. If we don’t believe the Lord is going to do something, then we are going to pray like that. We have to pray with boldness knowing that the Lord can do anything. There are about 3 huge things I was praying and the Lord answered them all and more.

I knew that this was the Lord teaching me and showing me that He provided for me and took care of things. Well fast forward and in April I began reading a book called “Draw the Circle” by Mark Batterson. I had already read “The Circle Maker” by him as well. But “Draw the Circle” was a 40-day prayer journey. It was awesome! The Lord showed me so much through this book and literally everyday.  He was working on the big things I was praying for. The things I was reading were actually happening every day. He once again showed me it was all in His time and not mine. The Lord doesn’t leave us, but He does want us to seek Him and trust Him, instead of doing our own thing.

The Lord is faithful. His promises are true. I am so thankful He chooses to use me and love me.

Some of my favorite quotes from the book:

“Bold prayers honor God, and God honors bold prayers.”

“When we try to make things go faster, we usually slow things down. When we try to make things easier, we usually make them harder. Don’t try to manufacture your own miracles. Don’t try to answer your own prayers. Don’t try to do God’s job for Him. Stay humble. Stay patient. Stay focused.”   

“Sometimes the purpose of prayer is to get us out of circumstances, but more often than not, the purpose of prayer is to get us through them. I’m certainly not suggesting we shouldn’t pray deliverance prayers, but there are times we need to pray prevailing prayers. We need to ask God to give us the grace to sustain, the strength to stand firm, and the willpower to keep on keeping on.”