This is one of those lessons that I think I needed to relearn. It has come in the form of our church prayer focus (which we never want to go away, by the way). One of the big reasons we liked the “Seek God For the City” prayer guide is how outwardly focused it is. Praying for our own situation and needs is very important BUT lifting our hearts and minds to bigger things is one sure way to shrink the world of our own problems.
As I have been going through the daily prayer guide, I have been tempted to skip the section of the guide where we are challenged to pray for other countries (Okay I have skipped it a few times). I noticed something today as I took the time to pray through those countries, clicking the link and reading about the country a bit. That combined with the outwardly focused section that challenges us to pray for people in our community, has been very good for me. In fact, I feel more refreshed by those prayer times then the ones where My prayer requests terminate on my immediate family.
As I was pondering what was going on in my heart, I realized how self centers my praying has been in recent weeks/months. I am grateful for this prayer tool that is helping me to lift up my eyes. I challenge you to join me as I try to rediscover how praying big and outwardly helps me to rediscover how easy my little problems are for God.
My heart is funny. When problems and stress increase in my own life, I tend to focus my prayers on those problems. When I focus my prayers on my own problem, I can lose sight of how big and capable my God is.
