Friday Fight 113: Amen and After

Every Friday, when I wake and pray, God places something on my heart to help me fight darkness beginning in our minds. Today is FF113.

All of us are in different spiritual places, allowing us to grow individually and together in a community with God. Most of us are working to cultivate our prayer life, understanding that prayer is the basis of everything. Our prayers can include repentance, thanksgiving, adoration, petitioning, or for this lesson, supplication. Suppose we pray for a specific need and humbly ask God to supply that need. What happens next? If Amen follows our prayers, then what follows our amen?

Amen and After

Through many areas and hopefully these posts, we understand that prayer is vital to having a relationship with God because it is how we communicate with Him. We reveal our hearts by lifting our voices, but relationships require conversation, time, surrender, and trust. We must remember conversations are two-way, speaking and listening. So, how often do we pray yet still attempt to fix what we just lifted in prayer? Are we taking things into our own hands, unknowingly robbing God of the joy of answering our prayers?

In John Chapter 11, Jesus is told about an ill man named Lazarus. We learn that his return from death in God's timing is for His glory, and Christ would be glorified through it. This is pivotal to understand when praying. God wants to bring glory to our situation and glorify Christ through our surrender and faith in praying. In verse 40 of the same chapter, it says, "Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?" We reveal our faith by allowing God to move in His timing before we move in ours.

Try to remember that prayer cannot be something we do without surrendering our struggles and needs enabling God to reveal Himself. Prayer is not closing with Amen without having faith that God is always listening and working on our behalf. Praying this way is from the flesh rather than praying in the Spirit.

Let's look at a few examples. Suppose a person was struggling financially and began praying that God would move in their finances. We cannot know what God will do or when, so in our impatience, we search for part-time jobs the following day. Our quick job search returns an immediate answer to a part-time job. Was this from God? After all, it came right after Amen. If so, why is this person miserable? We only know the answer to this when we allow God to reveal the time to reveal Himself in a way that brings Him the glory. God could have answered our prayer through unexpected money, a salary increase, a performance bonus, another career choice, or endless possibilities because all things are possible with God. All these possibilities of surrender and faith give God glory in answering our prayers. Without confidence that God will answer in our submission, we inadvertently remove the glory and honor God receives when providing for His precious children.

Let's look at another example. Suppose a couple praying for another baby that hasn't happened yet. The Bible says to call the church elders and pray, so they did. After their Amen, would the next step be to give God a minute to move in this request or call a fertility clinic the following day? If we are asking then the question would be was that decision made after the still small voice of the Holy Spirit or something quickly decided. If we are asking, let's have enough love and respect for our Creator to answer by giving Him the opportunity to speak to our hearts then carefully listening for His answer and opening the door.

Darkness is pleased when we say Amen and then take matters into our own hands. Doing so means we continually learn to pray from the flesh and wonder why our prayers go unanswered. His plan is to slowly manipulate our minds, convincing us that it is pointless to pray.

After we say Amen, let's be still and focus on the joy in communicating our supplications with our Heavenly Father. In our relationship with Him, please remember to trust, wait for Him to move by providing the best possible answer, providing perfectly for us. God can do anything! However, continuing to pursue a solution to our problems removes this glorifying opportunity to answer in a way that only He can. Nothing is too big for God, and His answers to prayers far exceed anything we could imagine.

Photo Credit: Abigail Tarburton

Pastor Shannon

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