How to pray so God will answer.

How to pray so God will answer.
Friday, November 22, 2024 by Janet Perez Eckles

Not long ago, an unidentified odor filled the front of our house. We tried and tried to find the source, but failed. We cleaned, washed, and sprayed air freshener. Nothing worked. To make it worse, since I’m blind, my sense of smell is sharpened. Ugh! There was only one thing to do—cover my mouth and nose.

So, I went to work, frantically searching for a cloth mask to cover my mouth and nose. I was sure I had put one away in a drawer somewhere. I pulled out items; I ran my fingers all around. No mask. “Lord,” I prayed, “I know this is silly, but will you help me find that mask? You know where it is, will you help me?”

He didn’t.

Facing my defeat, I sat at my computer and worked for a few hours. Then I got up, walked around the house and, to my relief, the smell was gone, totally gone.

What came instead was a big lesson. How often we ask for something specific, yet God is up to something bigger. We beg for a solution, but God has a mightier answer. And when we plead and plead for a specific outcome, He comes up with a different one, one that solves a bigger problem.

That is what His promise is — to solve them His way.

That’s why we can be reassured that although He listens to our prayers, He sees our heart. He often doesn’t give us what we want but grants us what we need. And He gives the reason why in Isaiah 55:8-9, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Trusting in that promise…

I pray not just to see a better tomorrow, but to delight in the best of today.
I pray not for a leap to triumph, but to take each step on firm ground.
I pray not just for triumph, but to know how to defeat fear.
I pray not to do great things without first knowing the greatness of God.
I pray not for a life of roses, but to remove the thorns of doubt.
I pray not for knowledge in a lifetime, but for enough wisdom in each defining moment.
I pray not for the abundance of my bank account, but to take into account my riches in the abundance of God.
I pray not for my own answer to every prayer, but for His every answer to fuel my faith.
I pray not for God to take away every trouble, but for me to take the trouble to see His way out.
I pray not just for a cure to my illness, but for the healing of my soul.
I pray not to trust in my success, but to succeed in trusting God.
I pray not to heal my loneliness, but to heed the truth that God alone is enough.

Let’s Pray

Father, thank you for your answers, your solutions, and your victories. Grant me wisdom to wait and to trust that your thoughts and ways are above my own.

In Jesus name. Amen.

What have you been asking God lately? Does your prayer align with His Word?

Bonus article on today’s topic.

Janet

Celebrate with me! My new release, Now I See: How God’s Amazing Grace Transforms the Deepest Pain to Shining Joy won the 2023 Memoir of the Year Golden Scroll Award.

Your copy waits for you HERE.

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