March 2018
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
(Matthew 6:33)
The most important decision you will ever make is to pray. Pray about everything, including the times you think you know what is best. Reliance on self brings continual striving. That’s why Proverbs tells us “lean not on our own understanding,” but to trust in the Lord (Proverbs 3:5). “Rely on” and “lean” are both translated from the same Hebrew verb “sha-an,” which also means “trust in” and “support.” Praying is powerless and mere rhetoric if we don’t fully trust in and rely on the God to whom we pray.
The sovereign creator positioned each star, planet, galaxy, moon, and every living thing in its function and intricately coded each of the billions of cells within the human body. Our God is involved in every detail of every second of every day. Our God hears, sees, and knows every thought, need, and desperation of our heart and wants us to know that we can trust Him as director of our lives. It’s not that He hasn’t gifted us with talents, it’s that praying allows God access to you in a greater way than what you could do without Him.
Judah’s King Asa had a long list of successes—those he had done with God. For the most part, he was a good king who sought God’s direction for 34 years. The Bible tells us his heart was perfect and that “he had peace until the 35th year” of his reign (2 Chronicles 15). Instead of calling on the Lord as he had many times before, Asa bribed a pagan king with gold and silver from the Temple to come to his aid. Pride and arrogance caused Asa (and us) to assume responsibility and not seek the Lord first.
King Asa was confronted of his sin, “…therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars” (2 Chronicles 16:8-9). Leave God out and expect things to be more difficult than they should be. Praying doesn’t take away the challenge. The point is that praying puts God in the middle of it all. He will honor His name, and yours, when you seek Him first!
The world’s wisdom seeks to elevate the “higher” self and tries very hard to conceal the Highest authority—the one true God. “In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, “There is no God” (Psalm 10:4).
Bowing in prayer interrupts our own plan, worry, frustration, weakness, and arrogance, which will rest us in the sufficiency of God (2 Corinthian 3:5-6). “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20, NLT).
Additional Verses:
- “Blessed is the one who trusts in you” (Psalm 84:12).
- “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency [is] of God; Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.(2 Corinthian 3:5-6).
- “LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me” (Psalm 131:1).
- “And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did with all his heart, and prospered” (2 Chronicles 31:21).
- “And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before” (Job 42:10).
- “And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou [wilt]” (Matthew 26:39).
“As for me, I would seek God, and to God would I commit my cause.”
(Job 5:8)
Prayer Targets:
- Israel: her protection, peace and salvation.
- Christian persecution is at its highest in history (Hebrews 13:3, also see Voice of the Martyrs’ website)
- Spiritual awakening (Matt. 25:2; Rev. 3:16)
- Those who have rule over you (Heb. 13:7)
- That you will trust more in God and less in self (John 3:30; 1 Cor. 15:31)