On my drive to work this morning, I spent some much-needed time with Jesus, watching rays of the rising sun burst through fall colored trees in the rolling hills of Franklin, TN. I was thankful for such a beautiful sight as I prayed through some tough things.
“Lord, bring miraculous healing to my Uncle so his family won’t have to go through life without him”
“God, rid my dear friend of her anxiety and depression. Show her that you are greater than what she’s facing.”
As I went on, I started to feel convicted, wondering if the desires of my prayers were rooted in God’s will or my own. Questioning my own conviction, I asked, should I only being praying, “Your will be done” or should I intentionally pray for what I hope the outcome will be?
Maybe this is my Uncles time to start his eternal life in Heaven. Maybe, through my friends struggling, God is teaching her valuable lessons that she will use to bless other people who struggle the same way. Scripture tells us to ask in faith, believing that God can and will answer our prayers in the way He knows is best.
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
1 John 5:14
In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning, I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation. Psalm 5:3
We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy.
Daniel 9:18
God knows we will pray for what we desire, and he longs for the moments we spend with him – but he asks that we rejoice in ALL things whether or not the outcome is what we hoped for. As believers, we can rest in knowing that we serve a loving God that has plans to prosper us and not to harm us. I believe in miracles, and I’ll never stop praying for them to happen…but with a humble heart, I will close each prayer with “Thy will be done”!
Thank you for sharing this. 🙂 <3
Thanks for this 🙂 This reminded me that ALL things work together for the good. Jeremiah 29:11 says "’For I know the plans I have for you’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans yo give you hope and a future.’" Although things may not happen the way we want them to or in our own timing God is in control and He’s got this WONDERFUL plan for our lives. He puts us through struggles and hardships so that we can learn and grow spiritually and we will come out stronger than ever before! Also, another thought I had on this inspiring verse is that there is a time for everything as Ecclesiastes 3 tells us. So God has purposely placed this pain in our life, but he will NOT put more pain or temptation than we can bear, just enough to test us and see how strong our faith is.