I'm sure you've heard the phrase "You are what you eat" and realized there is truth to that statement. Have you continued that thought and realized that you are also...what you think, what you say, what you do, AND what you pray. Yes, what you pray is what you are. When we are trying to change (any change like mine of eating) you start on the inside because the spirit and physical body are inseparably linked and the role of prayer plays an intimate part. I never thought about how I pray, with doubt or with confidence, would play a part in how my journey of change goes. If I pray, Lord help me eat better but inside I fully doubt that this will happen - it truly won't. God calls me to a life of faith and to commitment to pray with certainty.. No matter what I see (the scale not moving, that giant ice cream cone that jumps in front of me in the grocery) happening, I KNOW that GOD IS WORKING! And we remember that its all worked in HIS time, not mine! "So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God's will. Then you will receive all that he has promised." Hebrews 10:35-36
Now if we think about how our lives change when we pray with confidence and consistently about everything in our lives...how much more could we help to change the lives of others by praying for them. Friends or family may ask pray for me for this or that and we say sure no problem. Do we? Do we stop, right then and either pray with them (yes I'm working on that) or stop in our busy days and say a pray that we promised. What does it take - a minute, two, three, or maybe five minutes? Think about the power of Jesus' name and how we could affect change in that person if we stopped and prayed. We are what we pray and what we pray for others.
Now I challenge you to think about the goals/changes you are working on in your personal life - write down a confident pray and commit to praying that with faith and consistency. Then list five people in your life - family, friends, or maybe that single mom struggling at the grocery store with her kids you saw today, or even your boss! - and commit to praying consistently for them for the next month. Every day. And it doesn't matter if you don't know any specifics to pray for because God knows and He'll lay it on your heart.
Those are just my thoughts for today.
