I was listening to a podcast during my workout today. It was by Alisa Keeton of Revelation Wellness. She was telling the story of dropping her kids off at school and praying with them at that time. She stated that they would normally pray that God would be with them throughout the day but then realized that the Bible tells us that God is always with us and never leaves us. They should instead pray that they would be with God throughout the day.
I have never thought of it that way. Every morning when I kiss my husband goodbye, I say a prayer that God will be with him throughout the day. I say the same prayer as my children leave for school. But this made me realize that I’m praying for the wrong thing. God tells us many times throughout His Word that He will always be with us and never leave us, so why am I asking Him to do something that He’s already said that He’s doing???
It should be my prayer that they all turn to Him when their day gets hard. That they pray for patience when they are irritated, that they pray for self-control when their mouth wants to take over, that they pray for kindness when someone wrongs them, that they show love to those that are hard to love. These should be the prayers that I am sending them out into the world with. Prayers that they seek God when life is hard. Prayers that they praise Him throughout the day because He IS always with them. He is in control of their safety and well-being. He is always there to help them out of temptation. He is there when they are lonely, wronged, or left out.
It should also be my prayer that they always pray prayers of gratitude in every situation. That they find the good in every situation…..even the hard ones. Being grateful will turn around any situation. Thankfulness is an immediate attitude changer. I have heard it said that you can’t be unhappy and grateful at the same time. How true it is.
I learned over the years to pray that God aligned my wants to what He wanted for me. I can give Him my requests for my life, but I also pray that His will is done. I pray for His will and my desire to be in line. I always prayed every morning before my 1st husband passed away that the Lord would keep him safe and bring him back home to us at night. While there is nothing wrong with this prayer, it slightly changed when I learned how to pray.
My prayer became, “Lord, please be with Chad today. Keep him safe. Please give him the physical and mental strength to do this job. And, if it is Your will, bring Him back home to us tonight.”. It was daily my total surrender to God.
While I still present my prayers to God in that fashion, praying in accordance to His will, this “be with me/them” part is an aha moment to me today.
This will be my new prayer.
Lord, thank you for this family of mine. Thank you for their health. Thank you for sharing them with me for this time. Please help them to turn to you today. I pray that they thank you for all that you are doing and that they ask you for help when they need it. Please convict our hearts of anything that grieves You. I trust that You are good and that you are always in control and that You love all of us more than I can imagine. I thank you that You are always with them and that Your hand of protection is always on them. If it is Your will, please keep them safe today and bring us all back together tonight. In Jesus name I pray, Amen
I have been in the situation where it wasn’t God’s will for my family member to safely return back home, yet I never thought for a moment that God had left him. I knew that each of us has a set number of days for our life on this earth and that once our purpose on this earth is fulfilled, God calls us home. It was Chad’s day to be called home. It doesn’t mean that God wasn’t with Him. Quite the opposite, actually…..He called him closer to Himself.
God did answer my prayer that day. He made Chad safer than he’s ever been, in the arms of his Savior. He also gave me incredible peace over the situation because I surrendered my will for His. I knew that Chad was gone because it was his time. God has a purpose for all of our lives. There is good to come from every situation.
Pray that your family is continuously turning to God. Pray that He is their strength to get through the day. Pray for their safety, but rest assured that no matter what today brings, God is in control. If the bad comes, because someday it will, He still will not leave you. He will give you the strength to get through it, you just have to ask. God has promised that He won’t leave us…..pray that we don’t leave Him.
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