Five Big Points to Ponder when Praying for Something Big

2. Take Your Own Steps

Psalm 5: 8 says, “Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness . . . make straight your way before me.” The implication is that we’re walking, not sitting, and when we face even insurmountable problems, there’s usually something we can do. If we don’t know anything about buying a car, we can ask a friend if they know a mechanic who can accompany us to the car lot. If we need money, lots of it, we generally can cut, trim, adjust, and finesse our budget more than we ever thought we could. If we’re in chronic pain and no doctor will tell us why, we search, research and don’t give up. Even if you think the Red Sea is at your back, stand up, adjust your pack, and check the livestock. If there is any task you are given to do, do it.

4. Remember Social Quantity is not Quality

By all means, ask people to pray for you – “Pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” (James 5: 16) Think twice, however, before you do a mass crowd posting on Facebook, an unrestricted tweet on Twitter, or a universal networking on LinkedIn, reasoning that, the more people speaking on you behalf — even if they’re total strangers — the more God HAS to listen. “If two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 18: 19) That’s hard to believe, isn’t it? But how comforting to know that you don’t have to be the most popular kid in the class to get God to listen to you.

5. Worry Less About Saying the Right Thing

Ultimately, prayer involves trust. “When you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words,” Jesus tells us in Matthew 6: 9. Interestingly, in this entire passage on prayer (Matthew 6: 5- 14), “Pray” is mentioned six times, but so is the word, “Forgive.” Remember the verse in point one, “If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us”? It looks like a significant part of God’s will is that we forgive others. Life isn’t easy, my friend, and sometimes it’s hard to see how our Christianity helps us through it. But God is our ever-present help in trouble, and those troubles are a means for us to acknowledge our own weakness, and rely on His strength.