Praying Courageously

Have you ever thought about how courageous we have to be to pray some of the prayers that are found in the Bible? It takes real guts to ask God to do some of the things he has called us to ask him to do.

For example, in Isaiah 6:8, Isaiah gives us the example to pray: “Here am I, send me!” Notice what courage it takes to pray that and mean it. The attitude that says: “God, I’m totally yours, I will go where you want me to go and do what you want me to do.”

The reason that we are scared to pray that kind of prayer is that deep down inside we know that if we surrender to God in that way, he will do what we pray…send us. Plus, we think he will send us where we don’t want to go and call us to do what we don’t want to do. We think God’s goal in our lives is to make us as miserable as he can.

Praying a “Here am I, send me” prayer is so much easier when we grow in our faith to trust who God is and what he wants for our lives.

First, in faith, we can know that God wants the very best for us. He has the advantage of looking at every possible path for our journey of life to travel, and he always chooses the best path. Notice, he doesn’t always choose the easiest path. And he doesn’t always choose the path that we would choose. But he does always choose the BEST path.

Second, in faith, we can know that God will grow us and change our hearts to appreciate the path he chooses. When God sends us to the place or people where he wants us to serve, he will work on us so that our hearts will be ready for and will find joy in the path God chooses for us. Even if we don’t think we will like where we are sent, one day we will have a better perspective and grow to a more mature faith where we can find deep satisfaction in being obedient to the Lord’s call.

Finally, in faith, we can realize that sometimes, maybe even often times, God’s call on our lives does not mean that we will change geographical locations. God is calling us to serve him right where we are. He wants to send us to our families, to our neighborhoods, to our places of work. He wants to use us where he already had us planted. He may change our location someday, but for now, he is sending us to the places we go every day to make a difference in the lives of people we see every day.

It is a courageous step of faith to pray: “Here am I, send me.” Will you pray that in faith and watch what God does in response? Then, listen and obey.

Above information came from The Monticello News.

HHJ News