When You Have What You Pray For

I’ve been praying a lot about my DTS (frequently the same things over and over again) and had this thought the other day.  What if God has answered my prayers and He is getting annoyed that I keep asking for things He has given me?  I realize that the idea of God being annoyed probably isn’t theologically correct but you get the idea.  I’m beginning to see that I pray assuming that praying once isn’t enough and as a result I rarely expect answered prayers.  Or I pray about sanctification in certain areas of my life like teach-ability and humility but think there is a correlation between the amount of prayers I say and how much I grow in those areas.  Almost like there is a big thermometer filled in with the amount of red that corresponds to my humility and each prayer fills it more and a week without prayer drops it down.

I had been praying with Luke 18: 1-8 in mind a lot (which is the parable of the persistent widow).  But I’m realizing that in an attempt to be more faithful and unceasing in prayer, I was praying more frequently, but was disempowering my prayers with an underlying heart of unbelief.  This unbelief snuck up on me.  It was disguised as belief that persistent prayer works but in reality it was faith that praying once can’t work.

When we pray for things we have already been given we lose the opportunity to see our prayers answered.  I’m realizing I need to take the promises of the Bible for what they are and know that God HAS DONE what he says he has done.  It’s time to move from supplication into thanksgiving.  We have a new nature and God wants us to embrace it and begin to walk in it.  He loves to give us good gifts and He is a God that answers prayers.

“You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.” Romans 6:18