God has a plan of redeeming the world through Jesus Christ. Things are playing out as we are tested and tempted by the devil and still reacting in faith and loving God no matter how bad things get. There are many things we pray for that sound good for us. Payers of healing always sound good. Sometimes even good sounding prayers are not given for various reasons. Maybe unanswered prayer is a part of the tests we are going through. The test might not be taken away from us, but we can pray for lots of things around it.
So when you pray, you can petition God in many ways around the same thing. God likes to be reminded every so often about the same thing. So remind him. Remind him many times a day. And pray about the same thing, but in different ways. He does not want us rocking back and forth repeating a prayer like a heathen until it is answered. Still, be persistent and patient in petitioning God in prayer.
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to teach them that they should always pray and never become discouraged. 2 “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected people. 3 And there was a widow in that same town who kept coming to him and pleading for her rights, saying, ‘Help me against my opponent!’ 4 For a long time the judge refused to act, but at last he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or respect people, 5 yet because of all the trouble this widow is giving me, I will see to it that she gets her rights. If I don’t, she will keep on coming and finally wear me out!’”6 And the Lord continued, “Listen to what that corrupt judge said. 7 Now, will God not judge in favor of his own people who cry to him day and night for help? Will he be slow to help them? 8 I tell you, he will judge in their favor and do it quickly. But will the Son of Man find faith on earth when he comes?”
Luke18:1 (GNT).
Lets say a bridge goes that is on the way to your work. It will take an extra fifteen minutes to get to work. So you expect that you’ll be late. You could pray, “God, supernaturally build a bridge right this moment. I don’t want to be late.” We know from experience, God doesn’t create lots of construction pieces via an instant miracle.
So let’s say he isn’t going to make that bridge right now. You could pray, “God, well in the future, get that bridge built quickly, and skillfully by the most efficient builders who deserve the job.” That helps for future commutes, but right this instant, it is of no help. You’ll still expect yourself to be fifteen minutes late.
You could pray, “God have my bosses be lenient that I didn’t get to work on time if I don’t get in on time.” And this one often does get answered. People normally only think of fake religions when it comes to the power of influencing people. God has power over everything even favor by others. God is the God of everything and every power. God opens doors no one can close, and he closes doors no one can open.
When I was very young and super shy, I would often pray that people would talk to me about a certain subject. Often they would start talking to me about that. I could have just asked them to talk, but I was so so shy. I prayed for people to initiate a conversation with me often, and those prayers were often answered.
Even if your bosses are lenient, still, maybe you could pray for all the traffic lights to be in your favor. You could pray that no super slow pokes on the road. You could pray for a good parking place. Those things could lead you to get to your job a little less late.
But let’s say you prayed for all those things, but you get every red light. A farmer pulls out and drives 5 mph for a stretch of road. And there is no parking so you have to risk public parking. Not for a moment should you be stressed out and worrying that you’re going to be extra late on top of the late you’d be from the bridge out. Any time my travel is interrupted by delays, I am thinking to myself, “This is sometimes how God keeps his children out of trouble. Whether I am avoiding an accident, a traffic ticket, or a badly timed encounter with someone I don’t want to meet, God uses all things for his good.” If you merely tried and hit the pedal to the metal and try and illegally pass the tractor, you are then doing evil and are going out of God’s will. If you get a speeding ticket instead of trusting God and obeying traffic laws, you’re getting what you deserve.
The idea is to pray about things in many ways. Pray about the same thing often. Pray about different ways you’d like it solved. And trust in God as you go about your daily business. Do this prayer style about selfless stuff. Do it for selfish stuff too. Anything you can think of that you want reality bent and changed, pray for.
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