PRAYING TO BE EQUIPPED BY GOD TO BE SUCCESSFUL

There are many things that I love about God.  One of them is that His heart for us is that we would be successful.  I don’t know why God bothers with us sometimes the way we stumble around and get self-centered and mess things up by doing things our own way.  It sometimes seems to me that God could get a lot more done if He just “waved a heavenly wand” and didn’t bother with us at all. 

However, God is wiser than me – that’s pretty obvious every single day – and His way of doing things is to equip us so we can do good things.  He wants His goodness to be displayed through us, weak though we are.  Listen to how Paul describes God’s choices in these words from the Bible:

Few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you.  Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.  God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.  1 Corinthians 1:26-29

Well Heavenly Father, it really does take the pressure off us to know that You know how weak we are.  You have the power and the wisdom that You generously make available to us so we can become much more than we could ever be on our own. 

We really don’t understand why you would choose weak and stubborn self-willed people such as us to train and equip to show Your glory and goodness in the world, but You do.  We’re grateful because we get to wake up every day with an amazing purpose set before us that we can shape our day and our lives around that gives us meaning and satisfaction.  We are part of the great cosmic plan of Almighty God.  What we do matters in Your plan. 

Thank You  also that we don’t have to stress and strain to make ourselves wise enough or strong enough but You provide all we need in Your Word and in the teachers and preachers that You give us.  We pray to have teachable hearts and to be wise and discerning about what we read and hear taught to us.

We bless our pastors and leaders in the churches. They have a challenging task in our secular culture to stand for truth and to train people to do the same.  Give them patience and willingness to do what it takes to learn from You God, and then share what You give them with their people.  It’s Saturday and many of them are preparing for services tomorrow and we bless them to hear Your heart and to have the boldness and passion to share in such a way that the hearts of those who hear are touched with Your heart as well. 

Along with pastors and teachers, and followers of Jesus around the globe we pray today that we would:

Let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.  Matthew 5:16

Have a wonderful Saturday.