Teach Me How to PraySample

Praying God's Agenda Before Our Agenda

I love to make lists. If list making were an Olympic sport, I would have multiple gold medals. If I achieve something that is not on a list, I end up writing it on a list just so I can mark it off. I love to see things get accomplished. The issue with this approach in prayer is that if we go in only to accomplish our own plans, we may forget to seek God about His perfect plans.

God doesn’t exist to fulfill our will. I know it’s hard to hear, but you have to understand that life is not about us. The reason we exist is to glorify God. When you take time to pray, you should make it a point to figure out what God desires from your life. When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray, Jesus gave them a strategy that we’ve been going through over the last few days. He eventually tells us to pray, “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” The goal of our day is to get in alignment with God’s plan, not for God to get behind our plan.

The way to keep our prayer life in proper balance is to make sure we’re praying God’s agenda first, not just our agenda. Not my will, but Gods will be done. How do we practically do this?

Here are some questions that you can ask the Lord during your prayer time:

What is the truth in your Word that I need to apply today?

Who do I need to love today?

How can I advance your kingdom today?

When we submit ourselves to God’s will through prayer, we start to get our eyes off of ourselves and onto the bigger purposes of God. Many times, we’re running too fast to take the time to slow down and see what God would have us to do today. But there is something significant God wants to do through your life today. There is someone He wants you to minister to. There is somewhere He wants you to serve. He always has an agenda for our lives.