Asking and Receiving
Asking and Receiving
Today, I was speaking with a good friend about how God answers prayer. I believe that one of the major ways that God demonstrates his presence and power is through our prayers. The ancient wisdom of God's Word tells us to:
"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. " (Colossians 4:2)
Its the watchful and thankful part that I think we mess up. I was reminded of this when I was traveling down the interstate in decent traffic and someone in the lane to my right put his left turn signal on. There was no room for this person to merge, but I slowed to give him space to merge left in front of me. Despite the fact that I gave him abundant space, he began talking on his cell phone and did not merge. After about 2 minutes, I returned to normal speed and he again put on his turn signal after about 5 more minutes. I repeated the cycle two more times before he actually merged, because he was so distracted.
I believe that God often answers our prayers in the form of opportunities as opposed to events, gifts, and "making people change". Just as the man on the freeway asked to merge, I responded by giving him the opportunity. Due to his distractions, he failed to take advantage of the opportunity three different times. I wonder how many times we have asked God for something, and he gave us the opportunity to have the need met or the desire filled, but we missed it due to distraction or simply disbelief.
The scripture tells us to be watchful and thankful. If we pray for the blessing of another, we need to be watchful for our opportunity to be that blessing. If we pray for a job where we could be a blessing to others and provide for the family, it will not often "fall from the sky" but look for opportunities that God opens in our lives. Houston Pastor Kirby-Jon Caldwell describes this as entrapraneurial faith.
We need to be better stewards of opportunities, particularly as we watch for the answers to our prayers.
What have you been praying about? Has God responded through an opportunity?
God bless,
Pastor M Traylor
Today, I was speaking with a good friend about how God answers prayer. I believe that one of the major ways that God demonstrates his presence and power is through our prayers. The ancient wisdom of God's Word tells us to:
"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. " (Colossians 4:2)
Its the watchful and thankful part that I think we mess up. I was reminded of this when I was traveling down the interstate in decent traffic and someone in the lane to my right put his left turn signal on. There was no room for this person to merge, but I slowed to give him space to merge left in front of me. Despite the fact that I gave him abundant space, he began talking on his cell phone and did not merge. After about 2 minutes, I returned to normal speed and he again put on his turn signal after about 5 more minutes. I repeated the cycle two more times before he actually merged, because he was so distracted.
I believe that God often answers our prayers in the form of opportunities as opposed to events, gifts, and "making people change". Just as the man on the freeway asked to merge, I responded by giving him the opportunity. Due to his distractions, he failed to take advantage of the opportunity three different times. I wonder how many times we have asked God for something, and he gave us the opportunity to have the need met or the desire filled, but we missed it due to distraction or simply disbelief.
The scripture tells us to be watchful and thankful. If we pray for the blessing of another, we need to be watchful for our opportunity to be that blessing. If we pray for a job where we could be a blessing to others and provide for the family, it will not often "fall from the sky" but look for opportunities that God opens in our lives. Houston Pastor Kirby-Jon Caldwell describes this as entrapraneurial faith.
We need to be better stewards of opportunities, particularly as we watch for the answers to our prayers.
What have you been praying about? Has God responded through an opportunity?
God bless,
Pastor M Traylor