A Praying Life is the most practical training on prayer possible, yet it is rooted in biblical theology.
I highly recommend it.
- Rev. Tim Keller, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, NY
To pray or to plan?
The short answer is YES!
When it comes down to doing life in today's rushed world, I think we can all agree that the better you plan, the better off you are.
But what does that have to do with doing all of life through prayer?
Everything! Where do you think Jesus got his plans for the day? Since he was always looking to his Father, the plans for the day or the week had to come from his prayer times in the early morning.
I have found this to be particularly liberating. Pray and let the plan(s) flow from your time with your Father.
Here are some practical tips I have picked up through the years.
1. One of my favorite prayer cards is simply labeled: "Myself: my commitment to God". The Scripture I use is Proverbs 16:3, "Commit your work to the Lord and your plans will be established." (See how the Bible promises that the plan(s) will flow from the commitment?)
2. On the same card, I ask for wisdom. The Father loves it when we do this. It shows we see him for who he is and that pleases him. In fact, according to James 1, he loves to give wisdom when we ask for it.
3. After committing our way (our day, our year, or our project) to the Lord and asking for wisdom, watch how the plans will come together. Something may come to you right then while you are praying. Or, you may pick up wisdom for your plan in a conversation with a friend, in a Bible passage you are reading, or in a sermon. One can never predict how the Spirit is going to weave the tapestry of the story.
4. Once you have a plan down on paper, set about to faithfully execute it. Sometimes, faithful execution is the hardest part. But this is all part of the prayer story you are in. Note the areas where you need repentance and pray for help. Note things you learn and jot them down as you go through the plan. Note areas where it occurs to you that you need more obedience from your heart. Personally, I find it is in this part that I ask for more and more faith. Your prayer card(s) will help you here.
5. Be adaptable. It's okay to adjust the plan as long as you are praying about it and seeking the Spirit's lead. Remember, in being adaptable to changing circumstances, you are fully engaging the story of what the Spirit is doing IN you, not just through you.
6. Enjoy the fruit! Yes, don't forget to enjoy the whole story as much as possible. You have committed your work unto the Lord and he is blessing because he loves it! Love it with him.
7. Lastly, every so often, just look at the card and recall the story. You cannot help but thank God. That is genuine and often robust worship.
Don't forget our Father loves to put you in situations where you are in over your head. You have the plan, but you don't have the expertise or the money or the personnel or....well, you get the picture.
He is watching and listening to see if you will just sit there and worry or if you will excitedly ask big things of him. Ask away, thinking all the while, "I can't wait to see what the Father is going to do with this."
Happy praying!
Bob Allums
Director of seeJesus Seminars: A Praying Life
P.S. Have you ever thought about hosting a Praying Life seminar? There are still dates available this fall! Contact us for the details.
Comments
Bob,
I love the perspective of committing our plans to the Lord in prayer. I think that so often our prayers can be asking God to bless and bring to fruition the plans we (in our own wisdom) have made, and then we wonder why things don't "work out". But starting off by committing our plans to God means that we hold our own thoughts and priorities loosely, relying on God to adjust them as he might need to.
I'm reminded of Acts 16, where Paul mentions different directions that God prevented him from going and then God giving him a vision of a man from Macedonia asking him to come over there. Paul was a man who committed his plans to the Lord. And then he moved out, trusting God to open and close doors as He saw fit. That's the adaptable part.
I also like your idea about faithfully executing the plan. I think that should also include when we don't fully have the entire plan laid out. Inertia being what it is, we can get "stuck" because we don't see all the twists and turns and become paralyzed from doing anything. My best friend once told me, "It's easier to turn around a car that's moving than one that's parked." I believe that God will bless our moving out with his direction. He can turn us a different way when he needs to - as he did with David's desire to build a temple. God honored that desire by raising up Solomon to build the temple. The direction wasn't exactly what David had envisioned, but his moving forward - with a heart focused on God's will and not his own - gave God the opportunity to bless him in an unexpected way.
Too often when we pray, we bring God the answers and simply ask him to execute them. This can also be true with our plans - we bring to him plans we've made on our own, and ask him to clear the way for them. We need to be bringing God more questions than answers, and allow him to be the one answering and guiding. When we bring only answers, we may fail to see the way in which God is working - because we're looking only for that one answer. But when we bring him questions, we faithfully wait and are able to see his answers.