One Of Those Weeks

Do you ever have "one of those weeks"?

Of course you do. You're human and, if you're a child of God, you have an enemy who loves to stir things up for you. If anything we should learn to accept that crises are likely to be a fact of life for those seeking to live for Jesus.

Praying About Problems
So how do we handle these times of trials and tribulations that the Lord warned we would experience (Jn 16:33)? Well, surely we should pray about them. The problem is that some of the problems we have seem to grow when we focus our minds on them in prayer.

I have been reading Max Lucado's book, Facing Your Giants in which, in his own poetic style, he compares David facing Goliath with the Christian facing problems and temptations. Lucado points out that in the account in 1 Sam 17 David recognises the problem of Goliath but his focus is on God. David faces the giant, but he speaks of the Lord. Lucado notes that David's "God-thoughts outnumbered Goliath-thoughts nine to two."

It's All About Focus
The way to face any kind of difficulty is with prayer, but it has to be the kind of prayer which is God-centred. When we come into His presence with praise and thanksgiving our awe and wonder of our Creator and Redeemer grows. The bigger the problem, the more we need to meditate on the power and majesty of our God. Only when we have reached the point where we know that we know that we know that the Lord is bigger than our problem can we pray about that difficulty effectively.

When we take this approach our trials, tribulations and temptations will assume their proper proportions. We won't be consumed with panic or distress and we will find ourselves living more godly and victorious lives. As Max Lucado says,

Focus on giants - you stumble.
Focus on God - your giants tumble.

Prayer College Assignment
Determine you are going to spend more time in praise, adoration, worship and thanksgiving than you do in praying about your problems.