Daily Devotional

DO NOT STRAIN AT PRAYER. JUST REST

November 29

Child of God, did you ever have to reach up high on tiptoe and strain to get something off a shelf?  It was hard to do without a ladder.  Do you sometimes feel that you are doing just that when it comes to prayer?  Do you strain and stretch and struggle with your prayer life, and still seem to get little or no results?  Well, I want you to stop all that and think a bit about the concept of "resting in the Lord."  What does that mean?  It means that your striving and stretching and struggling are since you are driven by your anxieties, and you transfer that "driven” mentality over to your prayer life.  It is based in fear and insecurity.  Let me tell you this, Your Father in Heaven wants to answer your prayers in a positive manner more than you want to pray them!  Read that last line again and ponder it a moment.  But, since you are striving and are motivated to pray at times out of your fear and insecurities, you drive away the Holy Spirit and do not operate in simple trusting faith when you pray.  Remember the word says, "That which is not done in faith is sin!" (Romans 14:23) "Yikes you say!  Can I be praying in fear which negates my faith in the act of my praying? Is that why my prayers seem to be so useless at times, and even seem to fall to the ground empty."  Yes!  Here's what you do:  Admit to your Heavenly Father that you are tired of praying empty, powerless prayers.  Then, repent of praying out of fear and anxiety and ask the Father to deliver you from such negativism and unbelief in your prayers.  Then, think, "Father, I won't even bother to pray unless you come to me in comfort and confidence by the presence of your Holy Spirit and motivate me to pray powerfully and joyfully."  "Help me Lord, and I will switch gears in my praying and I will "believe that I have what I ask for when I pray." (Mark 11:24) "I will pray on the next level with you empowering my prayer life."  How about that, child of God?  Stop straining and sweating about your prayer life!  Your Father is going to teach you how to pray "with the Holy Spirit and with the understanding when you pray." (John 14:26) Get ready to stretch your faith, joy and expectation of your Father when you pray from now on.  Ok?

Prayer