Devoted to Prayer
June 2011
Just as soon as we turn toward Him with loving confidence, and say, “Thy will be done,” whatever chills or cripples or enslaves our spirits, clogs their powers, or hinders their development, melts away in the sunshine of His sympathy. … He does not free us from the pain, but from its power to dull the sensibilities; not from the poverty and care, but from their tendency to narrow and harden; not from calumny, but from the maddening poison of its sting; not from disappointment, but from the hopelessness and bitterness of thought which it so often engenders.
-William W. Kinsley
There is such power in the simple phrase, “Thy will be done,” isn’t there? It is in fact a powerful protective prayer when all manner of enemies, seen and unseen, seek to derail our spiritual lives.
I am a worrier, a controller, and melancholic. If I do not stay spiritually alert to my thought life I can be unraveled in a moment.
For example, I had plans for this spring. Good ones. Spiritual ones. God-honoring ones. I had prayed about them for months and assumed God would give the go ahead. Well, he did not. I wish my initial reaction would have been one of submission but, alas, it was not. First, I was sad; then mad that things had not gone as I hoped (my controlling ways were in full gear). And lastly, I felt rejected and unloved.
Then I read the above quote in a very old devotional published in 1901. The God of all comfort came to my aid by reminding me of the four words Jesus uttered in his darkest hour in the garden just prior to the cross: “Thy will be done” (Matthew 26:42). That simple phrase began to put all things in perspective for me—really. God is sovereign over every detail of my life. I will follow the Lamb wherever he leads. “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding” (Philippians 4:7) took hold of me again. He is so kind to me!
I pray you would know the delight of living the truth of God’s perfect will being accomplished in your life. Perhaps you are in a bit of a funk like I was when I needed to receive and embrace a “No” from God. Would you take a moment, and even a knee, to reaffirm God’s love and care for you? Would you recall past “No’s” and remember that a beautiful “Yes” waits just around the corner?
See the attached Prayer Page and pray the Prayers of Surrender.
Devoted to Prayer updates also available via blog http://www.graceandguts.net
Praying Together,
Barbara Francis
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