What to pray for

It’s so easy to ask God every day for objects of desire.

In fact, it’s easy to only get in touch with God when you want something.

“Dear God, please give me a husband.” “Dear God, please get me out of this mess.”

“Dear God, please make life better”

And while God does answer these, it seems when you go to him to take instead of give, the answer is always “wait” or “later”. You have to learn to give. Give of your heart and soul and energy and even of your possessions until you’d think the supply would run dry but that’s when it comes back overflowing. Beware of doing this just to get something back, though. “Dear God, if I do _______ please give me a ______” or “Dear God, if you save me from _______, I will _______ for you”. Technically, these are bribes. If they are unethical in the business world, how much more ethical can they be in God’s eyes? In fact, beware of prayers that can be classified under “my way or the highway” because they seldom take you anywhere that you can grow from.

Here are some prayers that I used to pray or that I know others want to pray, and here are their replacements.

Old prayer:

“Dear God, please give me a _________________” (you fill in the blank with what you want most)

New prayer:

“Dear God, please give me patience and remind me that you have a plan and that your will is much better than mine”

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Old prayer:

“Dear God, make my _________________ change.” (fill in the blank with mom, dad, boyfriend, boss, whatever)

New prayer:

1) “Dear God, let me be patient with this person and be a clear example of you”

2) “Dear God, this person is struggling with this problem. Is there something that I can give them that will help them heal and be at peace again?”

_

Old prayer:

“Dear God, why have you forsaken me?”

New prayer:

“Dear God, I know you are taking care of me and your will for me is better than I could imagine, but right now a lot of negative things are clouding my thoughts and my heart, so please give me strength to know better”

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The final case and point here is that if you learn to trust that there is a plan, that God knows best and that there’s a bigger picture than the immediate need that you see in front of your face, you are on the right track to feel and be blessed. Not because you got what you wanted, but because you gave and sought what was needed.