Day 5: Want Radical Changes? Pray for Them!

Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer. – Romans 12:12
Pray without ceasing. – I Thessalonians 5:17

How did you wake up this morning? What was the first thing you did?

I know I grabbed my phone and fumbled for the snooze button. Then woke up after the snooze and fumbled for it again…then realized I’d already hit it once. Then started running through what I had to do to get the day started, as I tried to get a few things done before waking the kids up, since it’s so much faster to get things prepared when it’s just me I have to worry about. Then the youngest woke up, and that’s the end of everyone else’s sleep…and the real get-ready whirlwind started. It was a good half hour before I even thought to stop and pray, and then it ran something like, “Thank you, God, that we’re not running late…yet.”

Then it was well over an hour before I got into God’s word. And saw the admonition in this lesson: Pray without ceasing. Be patient. Rejoice. I couldn’t help but think: How much better could my morning have gone if I got up and started the day with prayer and time with God instead of that first snooze? Could that particular fifteen minutes have been better spent…did that fifteen minutes of sleep REALLY make a difference? Or could the time have been spent aligning my attitudes with the ones God would have for me and fixing my thoughts on him? Hope…and especially patience…would have made the morning routine go much more smoothly.

That’s just one example of what we should be doing every day: Turning over the things in our life…even the little thing (perhaps ESPECIALLY the little things) to God. Throughout the day, we should remember that he is our strength, our help, and the he gives us what we need to get through life’s trials…whether it’s the everyday schedule grind or a crisis situation. We should take it to God first through prayer.

ACTIONS
When you’re tempted to be discouraged, angry, impatient, or simply frustrated with something to do, give it to God in prayer, and then let it go and let Him take care of it.

POINTS FOR DISCUSSION
How DID you wake up this morning? Was God first…or even near the beginning…in your morning routine?

What situation did you turn over to God today…and how did it turn out?