What do you pray for?

  • safety?
  • the salvation of family or friends?
  • a new job?
  • patience?
  • healing?
  • reconciliation in a marriage or other relationship?
  • wisdom for a difficult decision?
  • unity in your church?

I pray for all these things and more!

Recently, WHILE praying, God has been pinging me for my lack of gratitude for so many of His gifts.

Here is what has happened.  Every day, on my Prayermate app, a different ‘Unreached People Group’ pops up in my feed.  Here is a photo of today’s UPG on my iPhone:

Prayermate Image  If you look at the % Evangelical of these people, the Shixing of China, you’ll notice that percentage-wise there are NO believers among that group. None!  That stuns me.  But more than being sad for their lostness and eager to pray that someone WOULD share the Gospel of the one, true God, I feel a deep conviction of how little I value MY salvation.

These 3500 people are locked into fear and superstition and a future worse than their present conditions.  Yet, I, by God’s grace have been given the most valuable gift anyone could want – God’s Holy Spirit presence with me right now, because of the Cross, and a future with Jesus, face to face.

So, what’s wrong with me?  Why am I not stunned by His grace, past, present, and future?

Two days ago, as I pondered and prayed for a people group currently imprisoned in darkness, I thought about ALL my prayer requests, not just the ones for others’ salvation.  I realized that each person’s request could be paired with multiple examples of God’s past provision TO ME of the very same grace I was begging God to give someone on my list.

For example, one son and his wife were traveling home from a trip this past Saturday.  I prayed for their safety.  Then the Holy Spirit reminded me of how He had brought Mike and me home safely only 3 days earlier.  I quickly thanked the Father for that, with a sudden rush of gratitude.

What I am beginning to confess is not just blindness to God’s hourly goodness in my life, BUT a pathway to NOTICE, NAME and EXALT Him for all His benefits and gifts.

I’m a language teacher, not a science person.  But even I recall something about Newton’s laws of motion. His 3rd law goes like this:

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

So if I’m obeying God’s law or principle, then each time I ask Him for something for someone, that request should generate the equal and opposite act of gratitude for having met the same or similar need in my life.

Here’s one small illustration of how I put this insight into practice today as I was preparing to leave home for school.

  • Initial action: Father, please give my husband your peace this day as he works from home and keep our house safe.
  • The opposite and equal REaction: Father, thank you for protecting our house through the night.  No trees came down on it, despite all the rain we have had over the past 2 weeks. Thank you also for how you are growing my husband, through Your Word, to depend on You when problems confront him.

My hope is that by praying according to this ‘Law of Physics’, which is a principle our Creator God set up, that my eyes will focus more readily on all the gifts He gives me hour by hour.  He really does ‘load us with blessings’ each day.  (Psalm 68:19)

I repent of time lost to praise Him.