Some Good Truth About Prayer

Sometimes we think of prayer as a last resort. When we’ve exhausted all our own efforts, abilities, ideas, and brain power, we say, “I guess the only thing I really can do is pray.”
 
Boy, is that backwards. 
 
Paul writes in Ephesians 3:20 that God “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…”
 
This means that whatever idea I have for how God could work in a situation, He’s got something far better. 
 
This means that anything I could possibly come up with for how God could answer or move is too limited.
 
Any request I make is too small. Anything I can dream of (or even imagine) is incomplete. Too short-sighted. Too temporary. 
 
Let me say it again: God can do IMMEASURABLY MORE than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us.
 
We see the problems in front of us; God sees eternity. We see one or two things He could do; He sees a thousand. We are praying for that one person we love, for God to work on their behalf; God is working in innumerable ways around that person, in the lives of many more who are connected to them, because God’s love is SO MUCH GREATER than ours. The scope of His grace, love, purpose, power, and plan is beyond our understanding. His reach extends far beyond our little worlds. 
 
Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
 
Prayer is not meant to be our last resort. It needs to be our first line of defense, our initial response to what is happening around us, our knee-jerk reaction to the concerns, triggers, and disappointments we face every day.
 
And if all of this is true (which I 100% believe it is), then here is the best news: I don’t have to figure it out. I don’t have to tell God what to do. I can pray with a surrendered heart, from a posture of humility, and with great anticipation knowing that He is going to work in ways I can’t. Even. Imagine. For His purposes, praise, and glory.

Amen!