Pray it Up!
Seeing prayer as a lifestyle...
You ever wonder why so many things happen all at once? You ever lean in during your prayer time and ask God what is really going on, because the math ain’t mathing and it feels like it never will? I’m learning that God is after many things, including our heart posture, but what He’s really after is our prayer life.
Prayer is so important and divine to God, that Jesus spent much of His time on earth PRAYING. He even asked the disciples to pray with Him and when they couldn’t stay up, he fussed at them (Matthew 26:36-46). He realized that if I, being the SON of God have to seek My Father’s face, then how much more should you be pressing into prayer?
Mom, you know that situation that has you up all night? God is after your prayer life. He wants you to keep coming to Him – not out of angst, worry or fear, but out of submission and obedience. To my college girls, you know that situation you keep getting stuck in even though God has tried to block it time and time again (wink, wink) – He’s after your prayer life, because the more you seek Him, the less time you’ll have to seek that thing that keeps hurting you (whatever your thing is).
To my entrepreneurs and corporate ladies: that thing you keep mulling over because it feels like everything is blocking your progress and you need the finances that you set out to get this year – God is after your prayer life. He wants you to seek Him ABOVE everything.
Photo Credit: Tima-Miroshnichenko (Pexels)
Here’s three things I’ve learned about my prayer life when it comes to life throwing challenges and curveballs that are unexpected, or even when I’ve stepped into things that I knew were out of alignment with God’s will for me:
1) God’s intention for my prayer life is to draw me closer to Him, not just what I want. Let’s be real. I know I’ve prayed plenty of times and I’ve desired for certain things to go a certain way. I wanted it to work out, even if I wasn’t sure if it was God’s will. But our aim in prayer is for HIS will to be done. As I draw closer to God in prayer, I’m open to hearing His instructions and His thoughts, then, I can submit to His desires over my own, which means that situation may not go away or change the way I’d like, but if it’s all a part of His will and plan, then I can be in peace knowing that.
2) When I pray, I become more like Christ. I mentioned how much time Jesus spent in prayer. While the Bible may not list every single account of when He prayed, it gives us enough insight to know that He made it a priority, even knowing that the things He would do were already apart of His Father’s will. Imagine that? He knew that every miracle, every move, everything He would do was a part of His Father’s will, and He was perfect – yet He prayed. So, shouldn’t I, a sinner saved by grace aim to model Christ’s prayer life since I’m prone to make more mistakes and mess up (even when I’m in God’s will, I’ll make mistakes because of my flesh)? I might be praying about the bills or the challenges, but I’m becoming more like Christ in the process.
3) Prayer is a powerful weapon that leaves the enemy powerless. Prayer is a weapon. When I use that before going to anything else, the enemy’s power over that situation breaks down. The enemy now has to go to my Father concerning me, because I’ve gone to the throne concerning it. James 4:7 – Submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee. Prayer is the most powerful form of submission. When I’m in that posture (it’s not about getting on my knees every second), but the heart posture and praying from a place of humility, anything the enemy does or says from there, he now has to deal with my Father. Even he had to ask God’s permission to go after Job.
Make sure you’re wielding the right weapon when you’re faced with life. We’ve heard and seen this time and time again, but prayer should be the first thing we do, not the last measure we take when life comes at us hard. Simply put, prayer is a lifestyle.
Have you heard? Girls Anthem’s prayer called launched on Sunday, April 7th. You can download the free replays here. Join us every Sunday at 7pm EST. Please note: ALL WOMEN ARE INVITED (not just for mothers & daughters).
Girls Anthem Prayer Call Replays
