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Tag: Prayer Life
My Messy Prayers
I have been going through a lonnnnnng season of trial and tribulations. I want to share a little bit of what God has put on my heart and taught me during this season.
He has pointed out many people throughout the bible who have been straight up vulnerable with God. It didn’t matter what they were going through they didn’t leave a piece of their heart hidden from God. Their prayers and calls to God were in deep anguish, agony, and sorrow. We see this throughout the Psalms a lot! Another example that God has had me focus on is in 1 Samuel 1-2.
Often times it wasn’t that I was intentionally keeping what I was going through hidden. I just didn’t want to complain. I didn’t want to be negative. What really happened when I didn’t tell God what was on my heart, was my thoughts of hurt and negativity later spread to my heart and soon my actions began to change. I was no longer acting in the spirit, I was acting in my flesh. In a sense, I was trying be independent instead of relying on God. Instead of speaking to him what was on my heart, I buried it down deep and it blossomed into one ugly rotten mess. Oh man was it a mess. It seems silly now, but I almost didn’t want God to feel like I was burdening him with my problems. What I was doing was keeping God out the equation. I was not coming to a solution because I was hoarding the problem. By not being real with God about what was going on, I was carrying a burden I was never meant to carry. I didn’t give room for God to be God. I was acting in pride. Not being real didn’t allow him to change my heart and see things from his perspective.
God spoke very clearly to me and said:
Be vulnerable with me. Give me enough time for me to speak. Listen to my voice. I already know what you are going to say before you say it. I am not like anyone else. I am not like those who have hurt you. My love is not conditional based upon circumstances. I am the one you can count on. I am like no one else you know. I want every piece of your heart. I am all knowing. I keep my promises. Follow the Spirit. Be a woman of prayer, endless faith, and constant worship.
I’m really not sure where I began to feel like I was “burdening God with my problems” but that is not how God feels when we come to him in surrender. We are never meant to be without the guidance of the Spirit. God wants us to come to him with our prayers being real and raw and messy. He is the one we should be coming to like that. God is the one who can turn the worst situation, feelings, or unpleasant thoughts into a thankful heart.
When we withhold what is truly going on with us from an all knowing, steadfast, everlasting, loving God, we are really cutting ourselves short. We aren’t avoiding complaining. We aren’t avoiding negativity. God wants us completely surrendered in every part of our heart. He wants us to completely trust him and be vulnerable and messy. There is nothing that can surprise him. There is nothing he can’t do. He wants to love on us through our messes. He wants to love on us through our hurt. There’s never a moment he doesn’t want to be with us.
“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”-Philippians 4:6-7 NLT
“Because of Christ and our faith in him,we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence.”-Ephesians 3:12 NLT
“I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.”-Ephesians 3:16-20 NLT
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”-Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV
Side note:I am so sorry I have been sparingly posting on here. College has slowly taken over my life but God is still at work in my heart and life. I try to post a verse of the day every single day on Instagram and Facebook. So be sure to get connected. You can find the links on My Mission & Vision page 🙂 I can’t wait to be able to write more soon but feel free to search through old posts and share what God is doing in your life. I would love to hear from you!
Sharing Is Caring!
God’s Question To Me When I Was Asking For Answers
When you open up your bible and pray to God what is the intention of your heart? I ask this because recently Holy Spirit had convicted me of going into the Lord’s presence to find out answers rather than just spending time with him. OUCH!
I am not saying it is a bad thing to go into God’s presence with an expectant heart that he will speak to you. I hope you do that. As you should do that; God wants nothing more than for you to follow his will. What I am saying is that when you go into God’s presence the intentions of you heart are very important. We can come into trouble if you go into his presence with the sole purpose of receiving answers instead of being in awe of his goodness.
When the answers become more of a priority than God himself, Houston we have a problem!
It is like that song: “Help me want the savior more than the saving. Help me what the healer more than the healing. Help me want you Jesus.”
Once Holy Spirit gave me a love tap and revealed to me what was going on. I ran with the conviction, asked for forgiveness, and turned in repentance. When I started coming into God’s presence I asked one thing… Who are you Lord?
No one on this earth knows God to the full extent. We can never reach the depth of his goodness and love here on earth. We should be getting to know him on a more intimate level each day. If you are in season of what seems that everything is running dry, know that there is more wisdom, understanding, and revelation that God wants you to receive just off that one question.
Who is God?
Everything trickles off that one question.
Here are some things that God has revealed to me or reminded me of:
I am loved by God.
I am chosen by God.
I am appointed by God.
I am God’s friend.
I am God’s child.
The Lord has removed my punishment
The Lord is among us.
The Lord is a warrior who saves.
The Lord will rejoice over us with gladness.
The Lord will renew us in his love.
The Lord delights in us with singing.
The Lord saves the lame and gathers the outcasts.
The Lord will restore our fortunes before our eyes.
Sometimes we get so caught up in wanting the answers that we forget the whole reason for being in his presence. Simply being in it. We should always want to spend time with him more than what comes out of it. Spending time with him in his word, in prayer, and through other spiritual disciplines will always result in fruit. However, do not forget to step back and simply be in awe of who he is.
Sharing Is Caring!
What Is Your Top Priority?
I love the way the NLT bible puts this verse. KEEP AWAY from ANYTHING that MIGHT take God’s place in your heart. This verse shows how important it is to keep God first above everything and to protect ourselves from the world’s distractions or maybe the distraction is even ourself! God’s proper place of order is ABOVE ALL, including our spouses, kids, jobs, or *place something or someone important to you here*. Has there been something you’ve been putting first before your relationship with God? What is your first priority? What way can things be put in proper order? Too much of a good thing can become idolatry. Start with a small amount of time and go to your quiet place and spend time with God. Get an accountability partner if this is something you struggle with. A little encouragement can go a long way!
Also, a really awesome book to go along with today’s devotion is- God’s At War by Kyle Idleman.
Sharing Is Caring!
The Tail of A Lost Pup (See what I did there…)
Good morning everyone!
I hope everyone had a restful night, but if it was anything like the Lunney Household, it was anything but. (Not complaining…Let me tell you why!)
We left church around 9pm as it still rained and flooded the area. We came to a little dog in the road running around with a collar (no tag), wet and lost. My husband looked at me and of course I told him to put the little guy in the car! We brought him home and our puppy was, to say the least, having a puppy moment. Playing with her new friend or trying to establish dominance, I’m not really sure. Needless to say, we talked about what to do next. We called people who we thought could help and they told us to take him to the vet in the morning and see if he has a microchip. I posted all over facebook pages for lost pets and spouse pages wondering who could’ve lost their baby. This pupper is seriously the sweetest. We drove around the neighborhood searching for people who may have lost him, but came to another dead end. We opened the car door to bring him in and he dashed into the woods. (Yep, that really happened.) My husband and I prayed as we went to bed. He soon fell asleep and I began to pray to God, asking him to put protection over this little pupper that I found…and then lost. I prayed for God’s will to be done and for him to go home or for him to find safety. HERE’S WHERE IT GETS GOOD. My husband woke up this morning and opened the door to let our puppy and this little guy slept on our porch all night. Ughhh, my heart! I’m sure you are thinking a couple things…1.How did she lose a lost dog? 2. This poor puppy. & 3. Why is she telling me this?
Here is why…
During my quiet time Holy Spirit has revealed to me some things through this little guy. (So cool that he can use a puppy to bring revelation and a blog post to share with you all!)
We have all been this puppy. Searching for home. Searching for love, care, and protection. We all have been lost, myself included. How often do we choose being lost in the woods when God has provided us with everything we need? We settle for the woods because, well its adventurous and we don’t really know God when we first come to him. Our old life looks pretty appealing when God challenges us on our behaviors and worldly ways. (Or for this little pup, peeing on the laundry basket…) So we venture out in the woods, lost, “alone”, and searching for home. We can never be fulfilled unless it’s through our identity in Christ. We will continually search and even sometimes settle for less than what God has to offer, like the porch for instance.
Even if you were to get lost, fall off track, I know God still remains the same. The promises of his word tell me so!
“So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”-Deuteronomy 31:6
It took faith for this dog to show up on our porch this morning. He ran away from us, but something drew him back to our home. Was it the love we showed him while he was here for a brief moment? When you get a taste of what God, his pure,steadfast love…you don’t travel far into the woods before you realize what you needed was back where you just were. We didn’t need the puppy to clean up before he entered our home. God doesn’t need you to clean up before you ask him into your heart. He wants you as you are at this very moment.
I just posted a verse yesterday on Instagram and it’s really fitting for what has transpired over the past 24 hours.
“This is what the Lord says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.”-Jeremiah 29:10-13
God doesn’t say we aren’t going to go through trails or tribulation’s. He promises us that he hears our prayers and that we will find him when we seek him wholeheartedly. He promises us plans to prosper. Plans to prosper doesn’t always line up with what we think is best. But often what we go through, is what shapes us into Christ-like character and puts us exactly where we need to be. Or for this lost pup, in a warm house out of the rain, snoozing on the floor.
Did God just use a dog to reveal all this to me? Yes, yes he did. That’s the cool thing about God. He will speak to you in ways that you will listen.
