“Consider the things that seem too difficult
in your life today—ask God for power... Consider the things that seem menial in
your life today—ask God for perspective... Consider the opportunities to bring
restoration in your sphere of influence—ask God for courage... Consider the
alternatives to serving God—affirm your desire to serve Him above all other
gods...”
—Kurt Bjorklund
Not many of us, perhaps, are as
intuitive in our prayer life as we would like to be. But, in and about the
challenges of life, prayer is a necessity—if we wish to stay on the straight
path; the path of godly enlightenment; the path of prophetic revelation as it
concerns our personal and interpersonal lives.
The above four considerations, and
their commensurate requests of God, are truly sound prayers.
Seeking Power
We should only be seeking power in
order that we would have the skill to discern and the energy to obey the will
of God. Most other power is a perversion of the good created to do good.
The reality is most of our days
are more difficult than we would like. Personal power to push through,
therefore, is essential if we are to remain resilient in our tumultuous
moments.
When we pray for power in our
personal and interpersonal affairs we become mindful of trusting God when things are especially
difficult.
Seeking Perspective
We can become weighed down by many
things menial and lose sight of the sheer blessing it is to do humdrum work.
This work is not difficult and it must be done. And, as Bryan Adams sang in his
song, Summer of ’69, “There aint no use in complaining when there’s a job to do.”
We often don’t see our lives like
this, but there are a million people (and more) who would swap their lives for
ours in a heartbeat. We are more blessed in our menial lives than we realise.
Seeking Courage
Relationships are where the rubber
hits the road so far as living performance is concerned. We need to be seeking
courage so we can handle our encounters with people properly.
Opportunities will come to forgive
and to receive forgiveness. It will take courage to do both of these well. And
because relationships are seamless, we have dynamics like this ever present in
our lives. Courage meets with wisdom to grasp the opportunities.
Seeking to Serve
We all worship. We all serve. But
do we serve God or some other god? What god will we serve if not God? There are
millions to choose from and we vacillate between the Real Thing and idols all
through our lives. We must come back to our Source.
Our service is driven from our desire;
what we desire we shall serve. It takes a deliberate choice, each and every
day, to choose God over other gods.
***
A good day starts by praying for:
1) power to deal with difficulties, 2) perspective for dealing with the
uninspiring, 3) courage to be graceful in our relationships, and 4) a desire to
serve God and not other gods.
© 2012 S. J. Wickham.
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