Are Your Prayers Proactive or Reactive?
When Ms. B asked me about my journaling, this made me think about all of my old journals. I have a few on my bookshelf in my bedroom, but where are the others? I remembered I packed them when I moved into my home and unfortunately that box was missing. I found it in the craziest place. It was in a box with wine glasses under the shelving in my linen closet. Weird huh? At any rate, I just wanted to share something I had written. It looks like I started this particular prayer journal on 1/6/06 and ended it on 3/3/08. Here's a prayer from 1/11/06.
Dear God,
Today I am fasting. My goal is to fast and pray and focus on living a life that is pleasing to you. I've suffered financial bondage for TOO LONG. I know that God can and will work on my discipline. So I'm focusing on you and requesting that you give me wisdom and the resources to get my finances on track..
Very short prayer huh? I continued to read through the entries and on 1/18/06 and this was next prayer.
Dear God,
I have been offered a new position with additional income comin in each month. Thank you for answering my prayers. Thank you for giving me a great start in turning around my finances. I am thanking you in advance for financial breakthroughs. I'm just going to list some of my desires and ask that you bless them. 1) emergency fund to begin with $700, 2) pay all of my bills before the due dates and 3) start paying myself first.
Of course I can look at these two prayers and see two things: 1) I had made a mess of my finances and was asking him to turn it around for me. 2) I was praying AND fasting and not just sitting around wishing things would change. And 3) It was only about two weeks after my prayer that it was answered AND it seems strange to me now to only desire $700 as an e-fund, but at that time it seemed like such a lot to ask for.
The other day I was selecting my benefits for next year. When I finished entering all of the benefits I wanted, I looked at the total cost of how much health insurance, dental insurance, short term, long term, life, etc. would cost me. The amount seemed steep. But I'm already paying something similar to this and these things are what I would consider MUST HAVES. I am a single mother with one income. And while I know my job is not my source, I do need to make wise decisions. If something were to happen to me and I could not work, I'd need insurance. So, rather than play a game of "gambling" with my financial wellbeing, I am proactive when it comes to making sure I have things covered for me and Tyler - just in case.
It made me think about my prayer life. If I were to read through all of the prayer journals that I have to date, I'd see a pattern. The pattern would be "I've went out and made a mess of some aspect of my life and now I am asking God to fix it for me." Sure that worked for the most part, but after completing that workbook, I decided no more reactive prayers. I am going to pray in advance!
Instead of waiting til I'm in a relationship with somoene who ain't good for me, I'm praying about who God allows into my personal life. Rather than waiting til I'm in a mess at work, I'm praying daily over my day. Praying that I can be the best employee I can and also praying for management (even though I detest them). I''m praying for God's protection over Tyler everywhere he goes throughout his day. If yesterday's shooting at Ft. Hood wasn't a wake up call it made me really think about my daily prayers for him. Tyler asked me one day why do I always pray for his protection, what am I afraid of? I told him I'm not afraid of anything, but he doesn't realize it yet but there are evil people in this world who have evil hearts and will harm children and my prayer is just to ask God to send angels with him while he's walking to the bus stop and back home and when he's on the play ground at school, etc.
Rather than asking God to help you fix a mess you've gotten yourself into, why not start praying in advance????????? Nobody said you weren't going to have any problems or troubles if you do this, but I guarantee if you do pray in advance your life would operate much more smoother. You can pray for wisdom in your decisions, discernment when dealing with others and guidance on how to be a good steward. It seems like such a simple and small thing to do, so why'd it take me 31 years to figure this out? Hope it doesn't take you as long!
