What Should Our Prayers Look Like?

Good afternoon, you magnificent creatures:)


Let's wrap up our look at praying for success by defining what success is. Abraham's servant was sent to look for a wife for Abraham's son. Arranged marriages were the custom back then, and even though we no longer do that, there is a lot we can learn from the servant's prayer. He specifically asked for a young woman who would offer water to him and the camels.

Sounds kind of lame in 2013. But back then after a lengthy trek across the desert, watering the camels meant a whole lot of extra work for this young lady. You try lowering a bucket in a well and haulin' it back up filled with water over and over again until those one-humped horses drank their fill, and the Bible tells us there were 10 camels in the caravan. If a camel can store 20 gallons in its hump, and each bucket holds a gallon, and there were 10 camels, that means Rebecca lowered and raised that bucket 200 times. (I feel so ashamed thinking back to when my mom would ask me to sweep the kitchen, and I would swish all the debris under the fridge).

At the heart of the servant's request was that the young lady whom he would find would be a decent, hard-working, kind, compassionate soul.

That's a worthy request if ever I heard one!

So when we pray for success what exactly should our prayers look like?

Philippians 4:6-9 Provides a great outline.
6-7 Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.
8-9 Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Do that, and God, Who makes everything work together, will work you into His most excellent harmonies.

We're all smart people. We know what is true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, and gracious. We know what is the best and not the worst. We know what is beautiful and what is ugly, and we know excatly what things we should praise. (If you're not sure, you can search the Good Book.)

All of which brings me to a story. I have sometimes wondered why it is that certain things happen to me. One reason is because some of those things are providing the perfect illustration for these DEVOs.

Back in 1989 I went to a prayer meeting with my mom where several women gathered to pray for their husbands. Everything was going well when one woman asked for prayer for her boyfriend. The only problem was that he was a married man.

Was this woman's request noble, beautiful, authentic, or praiseworthy? Of course not!!!! Clearly, she was confused, and all the other women who were there praying for their men, a few of whom were making stupid choices outside their marriage, really let her have it.

The important thing to keep in mind is that God is in control. Each of you could pray until you were blue in the face for me to stop loving Jorge, and God would never answer. We should all be relieved that we don't have that kind of power or else the world would be considerably more dangerous. God is, however, in the business of answering prayers that fulfill the requirements of the verses above. That's excellent news!

PRAYERS: Dear Lord, How wonderful that You and You alone are in control. And You are trustworthy. You will never ever answer a prayer that goes against Your Word. Thank You that You are all about displacing the worry in our lives with peace. Teach us to pray that we may receive the answers we seek. In Jesus' name, Amen~