Pray Specific
Devotional Reading: And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 1 John 5:14 ESV
I know that there have been times that I’ve prayed very generic, vague prayers—prayers like, “Lord, touch my life and lead me in your ways.” Not a bad prayer, right? And that’s a good place to start perhaps, but admittedly it isn’t a very specific prayer. A much more powerful approach to this prayer would be, “Lord, you see what’s happening right now in my life. I am being faced with the difficult decision to quit my job so I can start up a business of my own. Align my heart with your will. Examine the motivation of my heart for wanting to make this move. Help me see the impact of this move on my life and family five or ten years down the road. Give me clarity about the right decision to make. Your Word instructs me not to lean on my own understanding and to submit all my ways to you. So I submit this move I’m about to make to you. If this is what I should do, make the path plain before me. If it’s not the right direction, close the door before me. I place it in your hands and trust you to be my guide.” Truth is this kind of direct prayer will often yield a direct answer from God.
Let me clarify that Jesus isn’t some “genie in a bottle.” But when we make His kingdom our priority and when our lives revolve around His will, the desires of our heart will align with His and He will make a way for us to live out what He has called us to do.
Try to make your prayers be more specific today?
Prayer and Confession
Do you have a request to make to God, do it now and be more specific.
Further Reading – James 5:17, Joshua 10:12-13
