Praying with Purpose

In Christian circles, it’s not uncommon that when someone shares a tough situation that’s happening in their life, that the person they are conversing with replies “I will pray for you.” Or an individual in need will tell their friends “I have a prayer request” and will then reveal whatever is causing their need. In both cases, one person often assents to pray for another and yet that agreement is only a passing commitment, as they quickly go upon their merry way and forget the promised prayer.

Recently, I’ve been convicted that sometimes we’re even more passive in our prayer lives with the people who we are closest with. Perhaps it’s because we feel that we already know what’s going on in their lives, and so we don’t bother to ask. Or perhaps it is because it makes us feel uncomfortable to ask our spouse, our sibling, our child or our best friend on a regular basis how we can be praying for them. We may offer general prayers on their behalf, but how often to we stop to discover what God is teaching them, how He is refining them and how we can be encouraging them with prayer to respond rightly to Him? How often do we know specific areas that they are struggling with and for which they desire prayerful intercession? Do we, in other words, pray for them with purpose or do we pray with passive intent?

I’m convinced that if we more regularly and intentionally lifted up those we loved to God, that God would use those purposeful prayers to accomplish much for His kingdom. And I’m convinced that our relationships would enjoy a richness that they most likely currently lack, for we would be interceding on their behalf to the Maker and their Savior. We wouldn’t be praying in general terms for God’s will for their lives (which is good), but we would be asking for His help in specific areas where they are struggling. We would be bringing them to His throne with focused intent We would be asking for Christ’s presence to be manifest in their lives, where they are in need of it most.

What could be more purposeful than that?

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Filled

If you have walked with Christ for some time, you know that there are times where you might feel closer to Him than you do at other times. It may just be one “off” day, or it may be a season where the passion of your commitment wanes in light of the trials of life. There are all sorts of proposed remedies for these ebbs and flows, from taking a sabbatical, to reading more books, to just waiting until the passion returns. And although some of may found some renewed sense of commitment after following one or more of these prescriptions, none of them explicitly employ Christ’s diagnostic for the problem. Christ turns the attention away from us, and onto the One Who should rightly be our source of satisfaction.  Instead of focusing on our feelings, Christ said that if we want to be filled, if we want to consumed with God, then the remedy is to do what God has asked of us. Obedience, in other words, is what drives us into a deeper (and steady) relationship with Him.

In delivering this lesson, Jesus uses the analogy of food, saying that doing God’s will is the nourishment that our soul desires (See John 4:34). Now, I know that there are people who say that they “forget to eat”, but I’m not one of those people. In fact, if I go too long without food, I have a pronounced physical reaction. Not only does my stomach make all sorts of growling noises, but I get what a friend jokingly nicknamed the “hangries” = hungry+angry. I have this reaction because my body is without what it desires. It needs sustenance, and it will continue to act out of sorts until it gets it.

The same is true with our souls. The ebbs and flows come because our souls are without what it needs. If we want to be filled, if we want to eschew the feelings of hunger and craving, then we need to quickly get about doing whatever it is that God is asking of us to do. And just as when our stomachs are filled with food, we experience a feeling of satisfaction and contentment, so our souls will be at rest when we are doing that which God commands. When we are consumed with doing what God requires of us, than He will be our satisfaction and desire. And He will be our nourishment and our strength.

Then we will be filled….with Him.

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