The Prayer God Loves to Answer Most
I love praying. Admittedly, I know I could spend more time praying. But when I make time to pray, not just a quick prayer while I’m driving or going to sleep, I mean really take time to get on my knees and pray, I am always left feeling closer to God and encouraged by His goodness, love, and faithfulness.
Last Sunday, as part of our new series looking at Jesus’ prayer in John 17, the sermon was titled ‘Praying for Glory’. We were reminded that Jesus prayed not to conform God to His agenda, rather Jesus prayed to conform His heart to God’s agenda. When we follow Jesus’ example and focus (or mediate) on Scripture and the truths of God, God is magnified and our hearts turn to His ways and His will for our lives. That is not to say we shouldn’t pray for our family, a job, health, wisdom, relationships and so on. God is our Father and He wants us to present all our requests to him (Philippians 4:6)! But when we start our prayers by focusing on Him, on His goodness and faithfulness, our hearts will more likely be open to God’s agenda rather than our own.
This week I read an article from David Mathis at Desiring God (desiringgod.org) that complemented the sermon from last Sunday; it further encouraged me in my prayer life and equipped me in praying for glory. I hope it does for you as well.
“God loves to answer the prayer “Show me your glory,” and he doesn’t leave us in the dark as to where we should turn our soul’s gaze to have our prayer answered. Once we pray this audacious, wise, and necessary plea, we’re not left clueless as to where to focus next.
When we ask God today to see his glory, he may answer our requests in countless ways. He may show us some attribute of his character we’ve missed or minimized. He may open our eyes to his smile behind a frowning providence. He may meet some temporal need in a way that warms our soul and fills us with gratitude. He may give a relational breakthrough that was so long-standing that reconciliation seemed humanly impossible.
But the fullest response to our plea “Show me your glory” is to turn the eyes of our soul to Jesus. “In him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Colossians 2:9). And our knowing the fullness of his answer doesn’t mean we shouldn’t ask. On the contrary, it inspires us to ask all the more.”
God bless,
Emma
