Lifted Life, LLC

Bishop Dag Heward-Mills published a book in 2019 called “Everything By Prayer, Nothing Without Prayer,” title inspired by Philippians 4:6, “Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be known unto God.” It’s an excellent read for every Christian, both compelling and encouraging. He discusses how to pray:

• For the will of God
• For the Holy Spirit
• Thanksgiving prayers
• From your heart
• With forgiveness
• To defeat devils
• Prayers of persistence
• With the promises in John… and more!

The book is a short read, but packed with scripture and (for me) life-changing. It’s helpful for any Christian to receive guidance to prayer with scripture to back it up – but without diving more into the content above, I want to take a step aside and instead focus on your own history of purposefully taking the action of prayer, just all in itself.

How many times have you wanted to pray, intended to pray, knew you should pray – yet somehow it just never came to pass. You never actually prayed. Why does that happen for so many Christians? We desire to have this relationship with our sovereign God, our heavenly Father who blesses us with gifts and protection, and yet we don’t have the relationship we should, and don’t live with the blessings we could.

I will be perfectly honest. When I don’t pray, it’s usually for three main (and lousy) reasons.

1. I want to make things work by my own power. I find it frustrating when things don’t go to my plan, and I want to strive to make it work without God’s intervention. This is called pride.

2. I know that God’s way will require me to let things go. No winning the argument. No gratifying revenge of my own. This is called resentment.

3. I want people to have sympathy for me and comfort me in my struggle. I want them to say I’m justified when I wail about how hard I’ve got it. This is called self-pity.

If you noticed, it’s always a sin that gets in the way between me and prayer.  It’s sinful will that prevents me from submitting to God and receiving what I truly need. Simply put, I need to constantly align my will with God’s will. As Easter approaches, we reflect again on the submission of Jesus to the Father, even unto the end of His life, and because of that, God’s divine plan unfolded: Jesus submitted, aligned His will to the Father’s will, was able to defeat death itself, and raise all believers to new and everlasting life!

It is a real battle against the flesh to submit to God’s authority, but it’s a battle worth winning: Romans 8:6 says, “For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” Whatever your battle is, you must identify it, and tackle it head-on. What gets in the way for you, unbelief or fear? Ignorance or apathy? Complacency or laziness? Busyness? Self-indulgence?

Give it a name, destroy it with the Word of God, and send it back to hell where it came from! I’ll go first.

1. Pride:

Proverbs 11:2 “When pride comes, then comes shame; but with the humble is wisdom.”

Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

Matthew 23:12 “And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Psalm 37:11 “But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.”

Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

James 4:10-17 “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

James 4:7 “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”

2. Resentment:

Job 5:2 “For wrath kills a foolish man, and envy slays a simple one.”

Colossians 3:8 “But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.”

Matthew 6:12 “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”

Matthew 7:5 “Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

2 Timothy 3:2-5 “For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!”

Proverbs 21:19 “Better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and angry woman.”

Colossians 3:13 “Bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”

3. Self-pity

James 3:16 “For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.”

Philippians 2:4 “Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.”

Romans 12:9 “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.”

1 Corinthians 10:10 “Do not grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.”

Galatians 6:9 “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”

1 Thessalonians 5:18 “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

James 1:2-4 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

Get out of your own way, go to God for everything, and let Him do that amazing work in your life – that remarkable, good work that lifts you up, enlivens your spirit, gives you power and strength, and glorifies Him!

Before you sign off here to go figure yourself out and pray – that is what you were going to do, yes? – notice something: though I’m not with you, or even talking on the phone with you, there is a compelling power in the Word of God that reaches you through your screen. There is an accountability present in the correspondence between one believer and another. That is why the Bible warns us, “Never forsake the gathering.” When a brother or sister stops corresponding with other Christians, that’s when they become most vulnerable to falling back in with the world and backsliding – or, they forsake the gathering because they are already backsliding.

Don’t wait until the world gets in between you and God before making great efforts to strengthen your connection with our heavenly Father. If you find you aren’t praying every day (beyond blessing your food), consider diving into the Word and setting up accountability with other Christians. Join a weekly breakfast club, find a mid-week service to attend, begin a new Bible study, schedule morning devotions and prayer, listen to your audio Bible during your work-outs; get creative! Then tell your brothers and sisters in Christ that you are committing portions of your day to reading the Word and prayer – and that you’re going to keep them informed about how it’s going.

Any way you can work the Word of God into your schedule, do that now! When the Word of God is present in your every day, you’ll find it come alive through your prayers. Make it your number one priority, because everything else in our lives flows from this! If you don’t have a community to keep you accountable, e-mail me at LiftedLifeServices@gmail.com and I will be your prayer “accounta-buddy” until you find the right church community for you.