1 John 5:14-17

"And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him. If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death." 1 John 5:14-17


I so wish that I could get to the point in my life where, no matter the circumstance, I would just immediately turn everything over to God in prayer. This seems to be an area that I struggle with so much. I worry and I lose sleep and sometimes even let my stress level get high before I will turn a situation over to God. Fortunately, God doesn't hold this against me and He still listens when I do finally turn it over to Him. He is still faithful and still answers my prayers.

I've tried to figure out why I do this.... I think part of it is that I try too hard to control situations myself, some of it is that I worry that it might be "too small" to pray about, and still other times I just let myself get too caught up in whatever is going on. What I need to remember and focus on, though, is that NOTHING is too small for God and nothing is more important than taking it all to God. This is what He wants us to do. He wants us to bring EVERYTHING to Him... no matter how big or small. He wants us to ask Him and to ask Him anything. God cares about it all.

God also desires for us to pray for the people in our lives. We need to remember that it's not just ourselves that need prayer. One of the greatest things we can do for those close to us is to pray for them. And to pray for them about anything. Pray for them during joyous occasions and pray for them when they are hurting.

Alot of times when I'm not sure how to help someone I will hear myself say something along the lines of, "I don't know what else to do but to pray." What I really should say is more like, "I am praying for you. Is there anything else I can do in addition to that?" Many times we pray for others as a last resort. We need to make praying for others the first and most important thing we do for them.

It is only through prayer that we will see our relationship with God grow and that we will find the answers to which we are seeking. Through prayer we will draw closer to God and we will find that our will becomes more in line with God's will. And, really, isn't that what it's all about? A true relationship with God and a heart and mind that is in alignment with the will of God.