Installment 3 of Calvary University’s Advancement Department seven commitments. The third commitment I want to talk about today is:
- Don’t make decisions without prayerful discernment.
What is the easiest and, at the same time, the hardest to do? The simplest, yet the loftiest? The weakest and most powerful?
It is prayer. Our heavenly Father desires us, nay, commands us to do so. Luke 18:1-8, which is the story of the persistent widow states, “Then he spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart.”
Pretty straight forward that we should pray and not lose heart—we should persevere. Jesus Christ gave us examples as to how to do so. Look in Matt. 6:5-18; Luke 11:1-4, 3:21 (the beginning of His ministry), 23:46 (His ministry ended in prayer).
He tells us in John 14:13-14, “And whatever you ask in my name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” This is not rubbing the magic genie bottle or the name and claim it. If our walk is with our Lord and Savior, what we ask is going to be according to His will for us and others.
Nehemiah is a great example of prayerful discernment. In chapter 1 he comes to God with a broken heart when he hears about Jerusalem. He gives adoration to God, confesses the sins of Israel, states the promises of God to His people, recites former mercies of God to Israel, and then pleads for God’s favor in the eyes of the king for he is the king’s cupbearer. In Neh. 2:2-7, the king asks Nehemiah why the sad countenance and Nehemiah explains it to him. Then the king asks him, “What do you request?” “So I prayed to the God of heaven and I said to the King. . .”
Nehemiah pleaded with God in chapter 1 and then when the opportunity presented itself, he made his request, and it was granted above what he requested.
Whenever there is a need at Calvary that I must to present to people to support, I ask God for guidance as to who to approach and what to say. Names come to mind or I notice other names in another task.
Spend time in prayer with God as He is your Father. He will guide and direct you. You talk with your earthly father, mother, wife, children, and friends right? How much more should we talk with our Heavenly Father?
Don’t let your prayer life follow this destructive pattern:
- Hurrying through prayer so we can check off the box for the day.
- Then, the time spent in prayer is shortened & our inclination to pray dwindles.
- Prayer is crowded into a corner & depends on fragments of time.
- Finally, our duty has lost its importance.
Phil. 4:6-7, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”