DJ JaySmoke (RJE)posted a blog, Sat, 03 Aug, 2024
Follow 
Our prayers can't change God's plans, so why should we pray?
BlogPraying for 10 hours, 10 mins etc won't change God's plans for your life, neither is reading the Bible back to back 10 times a year. If praying could alter God's plan or add to it, Jesus would have not gone on the cross to die. That was His prayer, but not even him sweating tears of blood could change God's plan for him. Several of the disciples died horrible deaths, do you think they prayed for that? Paul not in is wildest dreams did he think oneday he would be used mightily by God, so clearly that wasn't part of his prayer points. John the Baptist certainly didn't pray that God should let him be beheaded. Joseph didn't pray to be betrayed by his brothers. Abel didn't pray that his brother should kill him. Moses didn't pray to miss the promise land. Job didn't pray that his children should die. Even though these people were closer to God than most of us would ever be, they faced horrible situations, some of which were permanent and life changing.
You can't tell me God wasn't aware of, or didn't allow these things to happen to them. He knew and it was part of His plan for them and nothing was going to change it. So the question really is, if our prayers, fasting doesn't change God's plan and purpose for our lives, then why do we and should we pray?
A good place to find answers to this question is learning from Jesus himself. When Jesus confronted Peter and told him that the devil wanted to sift him like weed, he didn't say he had prayed that God should stop the devil, no, He said he had prayed that God will give Peter strength. Luke 22:31-32. In our modern Christianity, we would pray, fast and spend days and nights binding the devil and asking God to turn it around. Again in Matt 26:40-41, after Jesus had gone away to pray, he returns and finds his disciples sleeping. So he asked them can't they even pray for an hour?! And then told them to WATCH & pray least they fall into temptation. When we consider the miracles Jesus performed, He didn't ask God to do, he simply thanked God and called forth. There are many more examples in the Bible, where instead of fasting and praying AGAINST a situation, they prayed for strength to endure. So why should we pray, if it's not to cry to God to fix this or that?
-
To build ourselves up in faith. Like I said, when the Devil targeted Peter, Jesus didn't rebuke the devil, he simply prayed for strength for Peter and the others. When we pray in tongues, it's like body building, you are exercising your spiritual muscles, so that you can stand against the devices of the enemy. By so doing, you are able to handle the hit much better. The hit will come, but you can handle it like a champ, get back up and continue the fight.
-
To align our will with God's. The reason why we pray certain prayers is because we haven't aligned our wishes and desires with God's. That's why we pray for things we don't have and when they don't manifest, we get frustrated and think God has forgotten us. But whether you pray or not, God's Will will be done, so the sooner you align your thinking, the faster His Will for your life will be done. Check this, the Israelites roamed the wilderness for 40 years before they got to the promise land. Had they aligned with God's Will, they could have made that journey in 40 days.
-
To be content. When Jesus was in the garden and praying, he gave up eventually and said if this cup can't be taking away from me, let your will be done not mine. When you can't accept your situation, when you can't accept that this and that is happening to you, you'll spend hours praying that God should take away something that he has brought upon you. So being content in whatever situation you find yourself is very important.
-
Keep us from temptation. This one is quite tricky because the definition of temptation in itself has been a subject of intense debate over the years. We know that God doesn't tempt us but we are tempted when we give the devil room to operate in our lives (James 1:13-16). When we go out of God's will, we make room for the enemy to tempt us. So when Jesus prayed (Matt 5:13) lead us not to temptation but deliver us from evil, and when he prayed (Matt 26:41) watch and pray, least ye fall into temptation, he was saying, pray that you don't fall out of God's will. That you are not misled. That you will stay aligned so that you won't give room to the enemy to tempt us. However, if we are tempted, because we've prayed for contentment and strength, we can bounce back quickly and effortlessly after a temptation..
I truly believe these 4 points should be the reasons why we pray. Not about visa, some healing, some job, marriage or any of those things because God knows we need them anyways.
I can't stress this any further, the most important prayer point every believer should be praying is "let your will be done IN MY LIFE as it is in heaven". In other words, not my will but your will be done in my life. Once we can sincerely pray this prayer, you'll worry less, you'll stress less, you'll be content, you won't envy others and you won't pray frivolous prayers. Because whether you like it or not, it will happen, good or bad. Your assignment is to be ready "spiritually and mentally" for when it does happen and that starts by aligning our thoughts, wishes, desires with God's.
Shalom 🙏🏾
Previous blog
Next blog
Comment
0 Login to post a Comment