I’m a rookie at prayer.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve prayed for as long as I can remember (as you can see above hehe), but my prayers were somewhat selfish and with no power of belief behind them. I prayed…but deep inside I thought that my chances of answered prayers were slim. Today I realized I was cutting myself short. We talked about this situation a little last Wednesday in my Bluprint class.
Jesus said, ” 21 Truly I tell you, If you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. 22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” Matthew 21:21-22
Until recently, I hadn’t realized how much I truly relied on God for everything in my life. I only realized this after I began to analyze my earlier relationship with God….a relationship without faith. I was never really specific with my prayer. It was usually something like, “Thank God I got this and this,” or “Please do this and this for me God.” It was never a heart felt, faith filled, honest prayer of what I truly desired….and that was just for my personal petitions. I had never prayed for anyone else other than myself, family or close friends.
This year has been an amazing year of ridiculous miracles for two reasons. 1.) My salvation. 2.) My faith in God.
This January was when I admitted to myself that I was trying to do things within my own will and not Gods. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
One of the first habits I changed was the way I prayed. I truly gave every burden, every desire…everything to God. Then things started to change. Bills were getting paid…things were getting fixed…hearts were being healed. My life started moving forward and to this day I haven’t looked back.
It’s October now and I feel like God is taking me to the next level…to my next season. Although I’ve improved on my personal, silent, in my head prayers, I stuggle tremendously with praying out loud. Which is weird because I have no problem talking in front of big groups or singing in front of people…but praying…that is something that I just can’t bring myself to do confidently.
That being said, I know God is calling me to be comfortable with it. God is placing people in my life and telling me, “Ok now go pray with them.” But you see, my God is so good to me. He’s not just going to throw me out there and set me up for failure, but rather ease me into it and what better way to do it but through facebook!
I want to share a little testimony…the testimony that led me to blog about prayer.
A couple of weeks ago an old friend from high school posted on her Facebook that she was pregnant. I hinted a negative tone and being pro-life I decided to privately message her and remind her what a blessing children are. She explained to me that she was happy about the pregnancy but that the doctor had told her that since she became pregnant while using a certain kind of birth control the she was at risk of losing the baby once they took the birth control out. She was pretty worried and asked me to pray…so I did. You see I have known multiple women in this same situation and they ended up with not so good results. I didn’t tell my friend that, instead I prayed to God trusting that He had both of their lives in His hands.
Yesterday she messaged me with good news! She told me when the doctor went in to remove the birth control IT WASN’T THERE. Apparently, it had fallen out…or something. I know how big those things are and I know it would be hard to miss it falling out. I’m not sure how it happened but God answered our prayer. He took the situation in his hands. I BELIEVE completely that He did this.
I was absolutely moved by her testimony. It reminded me how powerful and how important our prayers for others are. Also reminding me that God has called me to be confident in my vocal prayers for people.
A couple of days ago I came across this photo. It spoke directly to me and the trial I am facing.
If you are struggling in this area of your relationship with God, I want to encourage you and assure you that as long as faith backs up your prayer, you are already one step ahead.
Be blessed – Moni ❤
I Lift My Voice <3 