Praying in Faith - Knowing That God is Faithful
It’s easy to get caught up in confusion when praying. How do I pray? What do I pray for? When I remember the declaration of God’s faithfulness in Joshua Chapter 21, I can take a breath, rest in Scripture and let it lead my prayers.
Our outside cat, Charcoal, went missing a little while ago.
He got attacked by another cat in the neighborhood (if any of you have seen The Aristocats, think Thomas O’Malley, but rougher), and we took him to the vet and got the wound in his leg cleaned up. Maybe a week later, he showed up limping badly. We tried to get him inside, but we ended up just making him mad. He ran away, and he then only showed up a couple of times in about a week and a half for some food (still limping and getting way too skinny). And then he didn’t come back.
I’ll be the first to admit I’m a major softie when it comes to animals, and I took it really hard. Past grief I didn’t even know existed came flooding in with my sorrow over Charcoal, and I spent a good two weeks in sadness. During this time, I was also trying to understand what I should be praying for and how to be vulnerable and trust God with my pleas for Charcoal to come home and be okay.
This is so hard for me. I’m not used to asking for things, and I’m not used to giving up control (not keeping in mind the very little control I actually have). I seem to bounce between treating God like a genie in a bottle (the spoiled, middle-class girl thinking she can talk her way into getting what she wants) and treating Him like I don’t trust Him with my requests.
Neither, obviously, is a good option. So where’s the balance?
Scripture to Contemplate
Job 42:1 I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. (NKJV)1
Daniel 9:2-3 I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
John 17:17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
John 17:20 I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they may also be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.
Hebrews 7:25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Ephesians 1:15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
Hebrews 13:20 Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
Joshua 21:45 Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.
Applying the Scripture
I think about Job asking why God was allowing so many troubles to befall him. I look to Daniel praying for deliverance from captivity in Babylon. I think about Jesus’ prayer for his disciples and future believers, and the apostles’ prayers and benedictions to the church. I also think about God’s faithfulness in keeping His promises when Israel took possession of Canaan.
When trying to understand how to pray, it helps me to put some things in context.
God is sovereign, which means He knows what I want, what I’m going to pray for, what I need and what is going to happen. So, regardless of the outcome, I go into prayer knowing that, even if He doesn’t give me what I think I need, He has a plan.
A solid foundation for prayer is knowing God’s word and His promises. This also teaches us to pray in accordance with His will.
Jesus is our true intercessor, and the Holy Spirit prays for us when we don’t know what to pray for. Also, God loves us and is with us in all things, even unexpected outcomes of prayer.
The ultimate aim of any event and/or circumstances in life is to bring God glory and make us more like His Son, Jesus.
God is faithful to keep His promises and will complete His work in us.
Focus Verse
Job 42:1 “I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.”
So I prayed for Charcoal, and eventually my prayers became, “God, I know You are taking care of him, even if I can’t. Please teach me to be more like Your Son through this sadness.”
After about a month, my husband was sitting in our bedroom, which has a window looking out to our backyard. “Honey, come look at this.”
And there was Charcoal, resting in our backyard. He is now healed, happy and safe.
Not to say God will always give us what we want. But the thing I’m especially grateful for is the way He used Charcoal’s injury and absence to teach me about fellowship with Him.
You lead me
So often in my sadness
I tend to close the gate
in suffering, fear or trial
I revert to those old, subtle ways
of isolation, feigned strength
the hardening of my heart
forgetting there, in my midst,
my Savior sits
patiently awaiting my response to His call
For I was not meant to toil alone
I am not made to control or own
all that surrounds or comes to pass
and when I feel pinned in this wrestling match
my desperate flailing against the enemy leads
to exhausted weeping at Your feet
I cannot do it,
face these trials on my own
I was not made to, nor have I
all along
You speak for me,
on my behalf
You walk with me
down this valleyed path
And in these times You feel furthest away
You draw nearest
and teach me Your ways
O my Savior and my God,
Thank you, thank you for hearing me
and for teaching me Your call
I know Your voice, and when I can’t speak
Spirit, You cry for me
And as I learn how to ask
how to trust
God, You show me
You know all things
and will lead me through it all.
References:
Radmacher, Earl D., et al. The Nelson Study Bible: New King James Version. T. Nelson Publishers, 1997.
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