Pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.
Then you will experience God’s peace.
Philippians 4:6-7
Having kids will do wonders for your prayer life.
Their first sick visit to the doctor,
The first day of kindergarten (it’s so hard to say goodbye!),
the first sleepover,
the last year of middle school,
the hope that they’ll do well in hockey tryouts
the worry that they’re hanging out with friends you don’t like
motivate a parent to pray like no sermon ever could.
“Dear God, please protect Davis,” I used to pray when my son first got his driver’s license. “Please don’t let anyone hit him. Bring him back safely. Please don’t let him smash into another car and send someone to the hospital and total the car and increase our insurance rates, pleeease!” And the tension didn’t loosen its grip on me until I saw him walk safely through the door.
Every major event, and a whole lot of minor ones too, become opportunities to worry yourself to death or to pray. Most of us do a little bit of both. And with every stressor—think pouring rain as your son is driving home late on an extra-late curfew night—the intensity of prayer grows with every inch of rain that falls.
These are what I’ve come to realize are “fear” prayers.
Fear prayers are when you pray about what you’re afraid of from a position of fear. Often you’re praying so that something will not happen. The more you pray, the more you worry because you’re verbalizing—in your prayer of course—everything bad that could happen. This is NOT what God meant when he said “pray about everything.”
Contrast that with faith prayers. Faith prayers are when you pray about what you want and ask from a position of faith. Often you’re focused on what you’re asking for and God’s ability to give it. The more you pray, the more you believe because you’re declaring who God is and his capacity to answer. This is what God meant when he said “pray about everything.”
Fear prayers differ from faith prayers in their view of God’s character. When you approach God with a fear prayer, you come with the assumption that he’s reluctant to answer; you have to convince him. Fear prayers also heap pressure on you to cover all your bases. After all, if you don’t, God might forget to protect her from the one thing you forgot to mention.
Faith prayers assume that God loves your child infinitely more than you do. They count on God being a perfect Father who wants to answer. “If you…know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11).
Your child, your niece or nephew, granddaughter or grandson, don’t need your fear prayers. Fear prayers won’t do them, or you for that matter, any good. They desperately need your faith prayers! Confident prayers that boldly believe God is willing and able to do more than you can ask or even imagine (Eph. 3:20).
Be your child’s advocate and pray bold, faith-filled prayers!
Copyright 2018 Carol Garborg
Photo credit: Ben White on Unsplash
Great post and obviously something I need to address. My devotions this morning putting an exclamation point on it… “When are our hearts are reminded of His never-ending care for us, our internal posture becomes reframed and our conversations with Him (prayers) are transformed… instead of offering a string of requests born out of disappointments and frustrations, we pause in His presence and– we see Him.”
That’s a great quote and I like the phrase “internal posture.” Prayer comes out of a renewed mind, that internal posture, of thinking about our situation from God’s perspective. Thanks for sharing.