Prayer and Petition

I’ve been wanting to write a blog for sometime now, but have been unable to fit that into my busy schedule until now. God has been doing some amazing things in my life lately. Primarily, He has been placing a deep need in me to spend time petitioning God in prayer. Working at ECC, I receive prayer requests every week from our congregation, and some people will submit the same requests week after week after week. I am tempted to say at times “Didn’t we just pray for that?” But that thought is often followed by the conviction of the Holy Spirit in my soul. Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” These people are setting an example of what God is calling us to do in these verses. We are supposed to pray without ceasing, and continue taking our requests to God with thanksgiving until he gives us an answer (whether or not it is the one we are looking for!).

Our prayer meeting on Thursday is my favorite part of the work-week. We get to spend an hour in worship and prayer with those we work with, and lift up the needs of the congregation. It is easy to spend an hour in prayer when it is part of my job, but God was challenging me, “Why aren’t you devoting this much time to prayer outside of church?” I love to start and end my day with reading my bible and praying. But so often, I get caught up in the routine, and repeat the rehearsed prayers that I have been saying for years. I try to say a blanket prayer over my life, instead of breaking it down to each person, experience, and area in my life that needs God’s work. Since my youth, my excuse was always that I never have enough “time”. I knew really digging into God’s word and yearning for Him in prayer meant sacrificing something else that had somehow taken over God’s spot in my life. Even things like serving in ministry were getting in the way of me giving God the time he deserves, and allowing opportunities for God to speak into my life through personal devotion. I was spending hours telling other people how great God was, but I was too “busy” to spend personal time in thanksgiving telling God how much I love Him.

There are many things in my life that are confirming this urgency I have felt from God. A few weeks ago, one of the people I serve in leadership under asked us to spend a few days in prayer and fasting. God did so much in those few days to deepen my hunger and thirst for Him. Then, this past weekend, I visited a church while in Eastern Washington. The pastor was preaching out of Hebrews 11, which is basically the Faith “Hall of Fame”. His main point was this: It is not your accomplishments that please God, but your faithfulness. While some of these men had great victories for God, others faced nothing but trials, temptations, and suffering. Yet they still went down in history as people who were faithful. Which brings me to a phrase God has been replaying over and over in my mind: You cannot impress God with your works. We can accomplish nothing apart from Him, so our pride in ourselves for what we have done (even for His kingdom) is just rubbish. Instead of working so hard in the name of God, but for our own glory, we should be humbling ourselves in prayer, calling on his strength and his power to accomplish in us what HE wants. Who are we to think we have something to offer people apart from God? He is their Savior, and before we for a moment attempt to build his kingdom, we must first come to him in prayer and seek his face. And the extra time I have put into prayer in these recent weeks I know will prove fruitful in the end. I challenge you all as I challenge myself: there should be no greater priority than our time with God, because as we spend face-time with Him, we learn his character and our love for Him grows. It is only then that we can really accomplish what HE wants for HIS kingdom.