One of my former youth students is in dire need of a boyfriend. She wants one, craves one, and is focused on one. Her whole world will crumble and her lifetime plans will fall apart of she does not have one by the end of the upcoming college year. The other day I gave her advice and thought it was good advice. (I surprise myself sometimes.) I told her to be patient, be watchful, and be prepared through prayer. That last line got me thinking that we all should be prepared through prayer for things we are wanting to happen in our lives. We cannot just wander into the things we are wanting, like relationships, jobs, promotions, or anything, if we are not in prayer about it. It is normal to want a significant other. It is normal to worry that nobody will want you, but it is a whole other issues to be ready when all of that comes into your life. When that person that God has created just for you comes into your life, you have to be ready. You have to have been prepared by God through prayer and supplication, which is a five dollar word meaning to humble yourself before God and to allow yourself to be transformed by God. Pray for your future significant other now, (I am sure my wife prays for me more now than she did before we met) so that you will know when you meet that person. Meeting the person that God has prepared for you is like stepping into a swift moving stream, it moves fast and you had better be prepared. Prayer is designed to get us adjusted and tuned to Gods will in our life. We like to run ahead of the plan and timing, I am guilty, and then when we turn around we then only see how far we have out run God. So then we have to backtrack or worse, wait. It happens to the best of us.
One last thought. Being prepared through prayer requires us to be vigilant when it comes to prayer. We have to make a point to spend time in prayer. One of the questions I get from the students is “How do I pray?” So I have a acronym for them to guide as an outline for their prayers.
P= Praise. Start with a praise report to God. Praise Him for what He has done for you and those around you.
R=Repent. Repent means to acknowledge and ask forgiveness for ones sins. Here is the place to ask God to show you your hidden sins.
A=Ask. God is already very aware of your wants, needs, and dreams. So ask Him for them and express the why behind them.
Y=Yield. The most important thing to do is to yield to Gods plans for our lives. This allows us to become more attuned to His plans and paths for us.
To wrap it up I always tell students this, write them down and do not pray before bed time. Use a prayer journal to keep up with your prayer life. It helps document the journey and train of thoughts. Never lay down to pray before you go to sleep because you will wake up hours later still in prayer! We have all done it! So be prepared through prayer.
Focusing On Godly Things 