Prayer for Me?

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.  Hebrews 4:12 

 

Something is nagging at me.  Actually, it is several things that have started to feel like a heavy load piled onto my back.  They are even making my shoulders hurt where the muscles are in knots because of the weight.

There are many things on my “to-do” list and many concerns on my mind. No single one has turned to a real worry but I am afraid that cumulatively, they are taking a toll on my tension level. I am a Christian, what’s wrong with this picture? 

I firmly believe that there is nothing that happens in my life, or anyone else’s, that is out of the realm of the sovereignty of God. He has offered to take my burden and for some reason, at least today, I am insisting on carrying it myself. It is not that I haven’t prayed about all of these things – I have, repeatedly. Some of them I have even seen God do wonderful work in the way He has answered. 

What I realized today is that the one thing I have not asked Him to do is to take the burden I feel. I have prayed for the other people involved, I have prayed for circumstances to change, I have prayed for the medical personnel, I have prayed for bodies of believers to come alongside those who need help. But, I have not prayed that God would increase my own faith, that He would again remind me of all His past faithfulness so I will trust Him with the current concerns (still not willing to call them worries!).  

Do we sometimes get such a long list of people and issues to pray for that we forget to pray for ourselves?  Intercessory prayer is commanded and we do need to pray for each other. There are also times when it is critical to pray for ourselves – who knows better than you do what it is that is weighing you down? 

In the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6 Jesus instructs us to pray that He would give us our daily bread, that He would forgive our sins, and that He would protect us from temptation and evil. These are personal prayers, aren’t they? 

My temptation today is to lean on my own understanding of all the things I want fixed right now. What looking at the Lord’s Prayer reminds me is that they are not my problems to fix.  In His time, in His way, and with the power that He has and I don’t, God will work it all out for His glory and the good of those who need Him to act. 

I have been reminded that His name is a hallowed Name, it is His kingdom, and His will will be done here as it is in heaven. My responsibility is to keep praying and keep remembering that He is God. He has sent a Savior; those I am praying for do not need me to be one, too. 

So, that’s it, I must go pray to be freed from the anxious thoughts that need to be replaced with a complete trust that God can take better care of my friends and family than I ever could – I will continue to intercede for them, though. 

The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. James 5:16b