PRAYERS FOR THE SOUL

Do you find yourself wrapped up in selfish prayers? “Dear Jesus, please give me this or that…” I {Vickibeth} believe that just like a parents desire to hear the requests of their child, our Heavenly Father desires to hear our needs and desires, but if all he ever hears are physical prayers, it’s going to be a pretty boring relationship, don’t you think? What if our days were spent praying, “God, fill me with your love today” instead of “God, please get me through this work day.”  What if the “attitude of prayer” that we are instructed to have (1 Thess. 5:17) was more than our physical wants? Let me be honest for a second, that “God, please get me through this work day” prayer is something I pray often, but what if I took it a step deeper? What if I ask for needs and desires outside of this physical world? I believe it will change my walk with God as well as my day-to-day actions. So I’ve compiled a short list of prayers that I believe both honor God and grow my walk with Him, and I invite you into this personal piece of my heart:

1.     Lead Me To The Cross. Does anyone else feel the need to worship when this song comes on the radio? I mean, wow. Every time I hear it I think “God! This is what I want! I want to rid myself of me because I belong to You!” How different would our days be if our focus was on the cross and what that means for the believer’s life? What if every day we laid down our burdens at the foot of the cross and gave them to the only One who can do anything about them? So many days I try to “just make it through” on my own strength. How foolish of me!

2.     More of You, Less of Me. If we  could go through our day with the mental realization that the day, our life, this situation isn’t about us, but rather all about Him, maybe we’d respond differently. It’s hard to welcome the Holy Spirit into our lives because we are so selfish. I don’t want more of anyone else; I want more of ME! If you’re honest, you probably feel the same way in your heart, and that is exactly why we need to make this a matter of prayer! How much more effective would Jesus-walking-around-as-Vickibeth be than Vickibeth-being-her-selfish-self be?

3.     Open My Eyes to Those Around Me. Like me, do you ever realize that you missed an opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus, but it’s too late? Maybe lost in your own thoughts, you rush past a sister in Christ at the super market with nothing but a quick “hello!” because you just “don’t have time to chat” because you’re too busy. Later that week you find out that right before you saw her she found out her mother had died, her medical test came back poorly, or her husband had walked out on her. You know that awful feeling you get because you know you didn’t listen to the Holy Spirit and stop to speak with her? I haven’t had that exact situation, but I have on many occasions not listened to an inner tugging because I’m so busy. “Doesn’t God know this isn’t a good time?” “Can’t He see I’m a little busy with me?” Sometimes it’s not even that we are doing something selfish, maybe we are running late for Bible study or we are late for choir practice, but God doesn’t work on the same clock that we do. Maybe it’s time we start listening to His voice over the time on our smartphone.

4.     Show Yourself to Me Today. Do you ever have days where you feel like you are in the day alone? I do. Now, the truth is that we are not alone, but sometimes it does feel that way; let’s be real. Tim has recently been praying this for us because it’s a very real struggle for me. Sometimes I feel lost in this big world. How can God possibly care about little me when there are so many people in this world, and while Christians are being brutally persecuted in other countries? Does He really care about my prayer that my day would be free of conflict with coworkers? I have been studying through Psalms, where David is constantly praying for protection on his life! Do my minor requests matter at all? I would submit that they do, per the character of God displayed throughout His word, but that doesn’t change my human need to feel that care, so I pray for God to show Himself to me personally.

I hope that these short, one-line prayers encourage you. To me, these are BIG requests, but they don’t have to be 20 minute long, descriptive prayers for our Heavenly Father to hear them. He knows our hearts, but I know that the habit I am developing of whispering these single lines to Him have really meant a lot to me. Not only am I working on my “praying without ceasing,” but I am communicating to God that more than any physical, personal need or want, what I truly need and want is HIM. There is absolutely a place for praying about physical needs, the salvation of loved ones, those we love that are struggling, etc. I’m not saying we need to pray these spiritual needs prayers instead, but rather in addition to those prayers.

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