| 2:42 min read |
A Beginner’s Guide to Prayer: How To Pray For Your Future
What are your future plans? Most of us spend some portion of time thinking about what’s ahead for us? Much money and energy are spent by people and organizations trying to predict future behavior, trends and conditions.
One of the best ways to prepare for the future is through prayer. When we pray the right way, we’re setting in motion the things today that will make us ready for our tomorrows.
To illustrate this, let’s take a lesson from Jesus’ life. There’s a great verse that shows us Jesus’ developmental process — what took Him to His future. Take a look at Luke 2:52 (NIV) “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” Jesus “grew” into His future through His daily relationship with God.
This is important to understand. The best way to secure your best future is to pursue your best now! What you do today, how you grow today, how you are developing as a follower of Jesus Christ today will determine what your tomorrows look like.
To be prepared for your future, here are 4 things to pray each day:
● Pray that you will grow in wisdom. Pray for the capacity to understand things that you need to understand. The more wisdom you gain today, the wiser you’ll be tomorrow!
● Pray for increased stature. While this literally refers to physical height, let’s think of it from a different perspective. Let’s consider spiritual stature. Spiritual stature is a mark of maturity. It enables you to stand taller and stronger, and to see farther. The more spiritual stature you develop, the more long-range vision you’ll have. Spiritual stature increases your ability to see right and wrong. It helps you understand the difference between good, better and best.
● Pray for growing favor with God. While you’re already favored by God because of His love for you, growing in favor with God means that you become more and more aware of the goodness, grace and mercy of God directed toward you. The awareness of God’s favor toward you will give you confidence, peace, and hope. It allows you to live in forward gear, anticipating good things in your life.
● Pray for favor with people. God has a purpose for your life. A major part of that purpose is to influence other people positively and to lead other people to Jesus Christ. You can’t influence someone unless you have favor with them. Favor in someone’s life is what opens the door of their heart to you. Favor in someone’s life allows you to make a difference in their lives.
Your future is determined by what you do with your present. The right prayers today will get you ready for your tomorrows!
Pastor Dale
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