I suppose every believer in God has prayed the words, "not my will, but Yours". You may think you've never prayed those words, but it's right there in the Lord's Prayer, and not too many people have never recited the words "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Now the degree to which we really, sincerely meant those words is probably best judged by how we react when God actually does do His will and not ours. What we say we want and what we really want aren't always the same thing, and by we I mean me, too.
Let's face it, we even pray prayers that contradict each other. One minute we're asking God to root out our pride, to help us to be humble. Then when something happens that humbles us we pray for God to remove the circumstance, to deal with the person who wounded our pride, to bind the devil, or we cry, whine and stomp our feet, (at least I've felt like doing that at times). Have you ever asked God to help you to trust Him more? When situations arise where you have to trust Him, are you thinking, where are you God and why are you allowing this trial in my life? Yes? Me, too.
The way I see it, the God who sifts and searches out the path before us, also has to do a lot of sifting when it comes to our prayers. Prayers prayed totally contrary to His will, His purpose, His plan and His timing get sifted out. We really need to be thankful for the many prayers God didn't answer, or maybe more correctly, said no to. (Join me for the rest of this post on Sunday, June 7th, at Woman to Woman Ministries, where each Sunday I share a bit of Sunday Soul Food!)
still following,
