Psalm 145:18 The Lord draws near to those who pray to Him, to all those who truly pray.

About a week ago this verse jumped out at me and kind of stuck with me throughout the day.

 As most of you know, I have been looking for a new job in Lafayette for about a month.  After sending out numerous applications, going on interviews, expanding my search area, and getting creative, I had gotten stuck.  I had done all that I could but could not make this happen by myself.  Before I left the office Wed evening I started to pray.  Hard.  I knew God had a job for me.  Whatever it was I would do it, and do it the best I could.  At that point I knew He would have to provide it because there was nothing more I could do about it.  The next morning I got a call- it was a job offer (and yes, I have accepted the position.) 

The really cool thing is this exact scenario played out before.  A few years ago I was new to Houston, didn’t know anybody, and looking for a job.  I was definitely making the effort-  looking every day, putting in applications, following up etc- but nothing was really happening.  One night I prayed and just gave the whole process over to God.  Whatever He gave me to do- I promised I would do it, and asked for Him to give me a job (any job) and soon!  The next day I got a call to come in for an interview and got the position.  God has literally dropped something in my lap every since I was 14 and got my very first job as soccer referee.  He has always come through for me in so many areas, just as soon as I get out of the way and LET Him.....This is SO hard for me though!!!

"Hello, my name is Leah, and I’m a micro-manager"

I thrive on being control & calling the shots.  The more anxious I get about something the more I need to be in control.  I wish there was a 12-step group for this, but I would probably take over and turn it into a 13-step group.  The opposite of worry is prayer.  I love the promise found in Matthew 6:28   ²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. that God will meet all of our needs and provide for us (abundantly even!) Our job is simply to immerse ourselves in his Kingdom.

Going back to that first part-about truly praying.  God has really been calling me out on this lately; showing me what prayer is and is not.  God delights when His children turn to him in prayer.  I already knew that.  That’s why I used to try and recite one of 2 prayers every morning.  These were really good prayers, from church camp even, with flowery language and it pretty much covered all the bases, plus, I knew starting off the day “right.” Then there were times I’d say my God-I-just really-need want you to do x,y,andz prayer.  Occasionally I’d throw in an oh- btw,- sorry- about- that- sin- I- committed, finishing with a p.s: thanks- for- sending- your- son- to- die- on- the- cross.  But He never responded to these pre-packaged and half-hearted prayers.

 In Matthew 17:20 He tells us we can pray for specific things, and we are encouraged to do so, as long as it’s in a spirit of advancing His kingdom. My praying for a job could not be one of those genie in a bottle kind of things.

As I move towards TRULY praying, I find it helpful to first spent time in the word.  Marinate in it.  This means not just doing quiet time for the sake of doing quiet time, which I never get anything out of anyway (except a slight feeling of superiority, cuz I’m over here doing my morning quiet time while all those other slackers are still asleep!)

There is no order of operations with true prayer- this cannot be emphasized enough.  The more I try to get into a routine of following a certain formula or pattern, the less God is present in my prayer life.  I’ve found that for me to get anything out of my quiet time requires a certain amount of humility (=a lot!)  Pride kills a prayer life.  But coming from a place of humility, prayers of praise, thanksgiving, and confession and intercession just naturally flow out.  Praying over certain situations is fine, but those prayers need to be broad enough to allow God to work.  Rather than pray for a specific outcome, I try to adopt a spirit of acceptance for God’s plan.  Unless I’m at that point of truly being open and receptive to His answer, God’s not going to give me one.  And He knows the difference.  One last thing, I do my best praying lying down on the floor.  Not to say this is the “correct” posture, but when I fully acknowledge my dependence on Him and give Him 100% of my attention, that position just comes naturally.

But wait!...What about unanswered prayers??

This can be the most frustrating thing in a believer’s life, and has always raised questions for me.  If you pray about something and He delivers it… *praise!* It was “meant to be!  If you pray about something, but it doesn’t happen, then either:

a)That wasn’t God’s plan 

b)You just need to wait

c) God’s trying to teach you something.   

d) all of the above

I’ve heard some version of this explanation from other Christians (and especially churches who preach health & wealth doctrines.) Logically, this makes no sense.  It totally gets God off the hook, then puts all the responsibility back on the person!  Plus this omniscient and omnipotent God is going to do whatever he wants anyway, so what’s the point?  But the more I read the Bible the more I’m seeing how the prayer of one person actually changes God’s outcome:

Abraham prays for God to consider the righteous people of Sodom (Genesis 18:16-33)

Moses prays for God to spare the Isrealites (Exodus 32:9-14)

Hezekiah prays for his life to be extended (2kings 20:1-6)   

If just one person can do all that- imagine what a whole group of believers might accomplish! (Esther 4:16) We are instructed in 1 Thess 5:17 to pray without ceasing.  This is my challenge, now that I have my job, to keep praying and mature into a greater prayer life.  So- shoot my a text, send me an email, write me a facebook and let me know what I can pray for you about!