Balanced
prayer life
Romans 1:8-10
Have you ever
had to walk on a balance beam for gymnastics?
Have you ever been asked to walk a straight line by an officer of the
law? I don’t know what your response is
but learning how to have a balanced prayer life is essential in our
relationship with God. Let’s read, Romans
1:8-10 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your
faith is proclaimed in all the world.
For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his
Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that
somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. In this passage of Scripture we learn about
the balanced prayer life of Paul in this letter. For each of us to have a balanced prayer life
we need to be thankful for what the Lord has done. When we acknowledge what God has done
creating us for his pleasure and providing for us not just our physical needs
but also our spiritual needs (including salvation from sin) we ought to express
genuine gratitude from the bottom of our heart. He did not have to create us
for his pleasure, nor provide a way to have all of our sins forgiven and to
have a restart. When was the last time we
sat down and counted our blessings, naming them one by one? Paul wrote to the Philippian believers that
with thanksgiving they could let their request be known to God. Making our request known to God is not the
difficult part, I will readily admit I ask God some big prayer request, a lot
of times however they are big in the sense that they are selfish. For example, the other morning over coffee
with a friend we were discussing church matters and I shared with him my dream,
my prayer request. My friend had the
nerve to ask me the hard question, was that a selfish prayer. I honestly had to say yes it was. There is a lot that Jesus teaches us on
prayer, everything from thanksgiving, ask whatever you desire. I have done a lot of that in my life. Ask Jesus
for just about everything, a lot of times the answer is no, for that I am
thankful. This brings us to the second
part of our verse today, that somehow by God’s will, I must be submissive to
God’s will in my prayer life. Being
submissive to God’s will is the key to a balanced prayer life. James writes, Submit yourselves therefore to
God. Submitting to God is the best
advice anyone has ever given. When we
submit to God we are coming up under his authority. When we learn to pray with thanksgiving in our
hearts for what the Lord has done, submit to his will, he will teach us what we
should pray for. When we learn to listen
to the Lord and ask according to his will we will receive that for which we
ask. If you are a person who believes
that just because you prayed and asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins and to
save you without submitting to him, then your prayers where not heard for
salvation. But if you have genuinely
submitted to the Lord, not matter what your sin is, your church affiliation, your
lifestyle at the moment. He will hear
your prayer and answer accordingly and for that you will be thankful.
I hope this is helpful.
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