The Most Important Prayer We Can Pray (It May Surprise You)
Did you know that there is a fantastic promise to prayer?
My knee-jerk reaction when I hear the words promise and prayer in the same sentence is the less than commendable thought, “What’s in it for me?!”
It’s like the “Christmas” of prayer. “What’s in the box, Lord?!” “I hope it’s something that was on my list!”
There is indeed something God promises to give us when we pray, but it may not be what we think. This verse from Jeremiah provides us with a hint:
“I will give them a heart to know Me [understanding fully] that I am the LORD; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart.” Jeremiah 24:7 AMP
True to form, what matters most to God is what’s inside our lives versus what happens outside. Prayer to God is, first and foremost, about our relationship with Him and the intimacy He longs to have with us.
The truth is that we will only experience the best possible outcomes of our prayers if our prayers become what He wants.
The promise of prayer is not about a guaranteed manifestation of specific outcomes. Instead, the promise is that the more we engage in prayer, the more we will become like our Father.
It follows then that the more we become like Him, the more we will want what He wants. The wonderful news is that God always wants what is best for us. The difference is that He actually knows what is best for us.
We have wounds to deal with. Histories that affect our desires and the things we might ask for.
We have sin and selfishness harbored within us. Even at our best, we’re still learning and growing.
And so, we trust. We trust that the more we engage in prayer, the more we become like our Father. And eventually, the more the desires of our heart will become like His.
Some time ago, I attended a writer’s conference. The keynote speaker closed by offering each of the attendees a stone. A small rock that sat on our table accompanied by a permanent marker. She encouraged us to write the deepest desire of our hearts on that stone.
I knew what I needed more than anything else because it would affect everything else. So, on that rock, I scribbled out my five-letter word.
T.R.U.S.T.
I clung to that rock for years. Even though I would write and speak to other women to encourage them in their faith, I carried a secret. Deep down, I wasn’t sure I could trust God.
I loved God. I believed in Him and trusted Him––to a point. But he and I both knew I needed a different kind of trust. Not one that was self-manufactured. I needed the type of trust that only He could give me.
He has. And He is…still… continuously teaching me that He is trustworthy.
If you’ve opened your figurative “Christmas prayer package” and you’re not sure what it is, I’ll share it with the same glee that occurs when the giver shouts out to the recipient, “It’s that thing you always wanted! See?!”
THE PROMISE OF PRAYER IS A HEART THAT MATCHES HIS.
Mic drop!
But what if our hearts dropped?
What if we would never say it aloud, but we’re looking at the gift and thinking, “Do I really want that?”
If we’re not sure, then perhaps our starting prayer looks like this: