doubt

Day 24 of 30 Days of Prayer

Lord, I need to apply wisdom to my life, so that it becomes a part of me in the process of my change. Look deep into my heart, God, and find out everything I am thinking. Don’t let me follow evil ways, but lead me in the way that time has proven true. Lord, change me. Push my ego to the side. Lot’s wife looked back. Lord, I don’t want to be a pillar of salt. Transform me. Paul was a murderer. You changed him. Renew my mind. Noah was drunk. You changed him. The Samaritan woman was a manwhore. You changed her. Thomas was a doubter. You changed him. I know change is hard, it’s the unexpected we fear. The experience we know versus what we don’t know. Lord, change me. Amen.

What I Learned During 33 Days of Prayer

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It’s been more than two weeks since the prayer journey has ended. Those 33 days, whipped, convicted and encouraged me to learn to increase my private prayer and openly prayer for others. It’s humbling, yet an absolute necessity.

I’ve learned a few things that I am putting into practice, so that I can become an effective praying solider.

I need to prayer continuously —unbroken, without stopping—all the time, and about everything. In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, Paul says to do this. Sometimes my prayers are SOS, sometimes one minute, and other times every hour on the hour.

And when I have this communication with God, I need to let it go and trust Him to fight the battle. This is not always easy, especially for a worrywart like me. I had to fast for five days—no worrying or anxiety. I prayed the familiar scripture: Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns (Philippians 4:6 MSG).

This led me to realize I had fear and doubt about some stuff in my life—as we all do, but fear and doubt stems from the unknown. That got me thinking, if I trusted God, had unwavering faith, and took Him at his word, what did I have to fear.  Then read an unfamiliar verse—Where God’s love is, there is no fear, because God’s perfect love drives out fear. It is punishment that makes a person fear, so love is not made perfect in the person who fears (1 John 4:18,19 NCV).

Now, I’m trying to imitate the disciples and asking the Lord to teach me how to pray.

One more thing, while my daughter was at a ten-day leadership conference, I sent her prayers every morning via text message. And  actually prayed publicly during a Tuesday night prayer circle.

How about you? Is your prayer life effective changing and encouraging you, your family, community, friends and colleagues, the nation?

Today’s prayer

Dear God, Help us to dream big, so we can accomplish a lot more without worry, doubt and fear. Not just commit to our goals, pursue them with intensity and passion and unwavering faith. And don’t let someone tell us that we can’t do something, not even our own self-doubt. Amen.