My Selfish Prayers

[cjwood]

One day, while pondering circumstances beyond my control, (which is more often than I'd like to admit) I prayed that God would change my circumstances so that I'd be free of all my burdens.  The Spirit put a groan upon me that said "That was VERY Selfish of you.  Your circumstances caused you to pray, why aren't you thankful for them in that regard?"

With that being the case, I then prayed a different prayer that I would NEVER have prayed.  It went like this.  (along the lines of a reply that Ray Gave to a person who wondered why pray when God is in charge)

Father, I THANK you for the blessing of a new day.  I thank you for the circumstances that you have used to cause me to come to you in prayer.

I give up on

My AMBITIOUS goals in exchange for your unfolding PURPOSE in my life.

My desire to be RESCUED out of my troubles, in exchange for being TRANSFORMED by the counsel of your will as a result of them.

My ANXIETIES about my circumstances, in exchange for your Rest & UNDERSTANDING.

My DREAMS in exchange for your VISION of my life.

You probably get the gist of where I'm going with this.  Much of my prayers for the longest time have been "Father do this for me, Do that for me........"  Instead of this, I now ask Him to teach me to live contented with what He has provided me today.  And for that, this season will bear the fruit from the seeds He has planted.

Ches

hi ches,
your my selfish prayers post has been recircling on the forums recently and so i went to the link and read it for myself.  sure enough it blew me away and my heart was touched so deeply by the words God gave you for all of us.  everytime i come to the forums it becomes more clear to me that God is speaking to us by us and i am again reminded how REAL He is, and how CLOSE He is.  and again i am humbled by His love, and honored that He is my Abba Father.  i know your selfish prayer post was written many months ago (actually one month from the day i found out my husband was being unfaithful to me), but it is now that God wanted me to read it.  thank you.

your sister in Him,
claudia

[dogcombat]

You're very welcome Claudia.  When we leave our first love, He ALWAYS knows how to draw us back to him.

God be with you.
Ches

[DuluthGA]

Yep, I've copied and printed it and stuck it in a place where I will view it often... many many thanks Ches... 

Love, Janice

[dogcombat]

Your welcome Janice

Ches

[cjwood]

You're very welcome Claudia.  When we leave our first love, He ALWAYS knows how to draw us back to him.

God be with you.
Ches

and His drawing me back has indeed always been the actual dragging type.  dragging me along so that i am even more humbled and grateful when He stands me on my feet and dusts off all the stuff that was dragged along with me, and He heals the "road rash" from the dragging.

thanks again for your sharing the post.  i wrote it down and am gonna email it to all my earthly siblings so they can read it too.  i hope that is ok.

sincerely,
claudia

[dogcombat]

Sure!! Go right ahead

Ches

[Seraphim]

Hey there dogcombat,
Because I live in Christchurch New Zealand, I'm posting stuff at 3-6 in the morning while everybody is ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. So is a good time to pray for you and everybody on this website. That God go clean out the rubbish, so that we can be his instrument and co-leaders in the Holy Spirit - to help make the world a more beautiful place. That one day multitudes will raise up their hands and sing "Holy holy holy to our great awesome Jehovah!"

Thankyou for your honesty and forthrightness and God bless you. And lots of stuff is going to happen for you and you will be singing and thanking him that Yahweh.

You know, I be thinking that people don't really choose God, but God chooses us and then lo and behold: Ray was saying the same thing and that it is in the bible. Hey, I didn't know that! OK, I don't know my bible very well. But, when I have a conviction in my heart - and then I find that the bible says this, or the Quran says that. And I say "WOW!"
Love Seraphim

[dogcombat]

Thanks Seraphim,

Now you can get some rest

Ches

[doreen]

Hi and thanks for your wonderful post. 

I relate to what you are saying.  I'm also sometimes caught up with my own needs, stress, worries etc. and forget that it's God's will that is causing everything to work out as He planned.  I'm grateful for every time I can pray and say thanks.

God be with you,
D

[gmik]

   Road rash indeed!!!  Good one Claudia.   D  good to see ya posting!!!

[skydreamers]

So glad this thread was brought to the forefront again.

That is a truly awesome prayer Ches, thanks so much for sharing....!!!

Peace,
Diana