Prayer Devotion: Tell God
Today’s devotion is written by the lovely, Amy Hale, a new-to-us guest writer, sharing her honest heart with us. Welcome, Amy.
As I prepare for a new year, I like to reflect on the ways God worked in the previous year by looking back through my journal. The pages of prayers and Bible study notes reveal how I grew spiritually and experienced victory, but also point to the areas where I still struggle and need to be more intentional about prayer and obedience.
Recently, when I revisited my 2015 journal, I noticed there was a particular sin I confessed repeatedly. I had often asked God to forgive me for complaining and gossiping about people and circumstances more than I was praying about them.
It was then that God brought James 4:2 to mind: “…You do not have because you do not ask God.” At that moment I realized the numerous opportunities I had missed to exercise the powerful privilege of prayer.
How many more victories might I have experienced if I’d gone directly to God with my complaints instead of simply grumbling about them? How many breakthroughs might have been received by others if only I’d been more anxious to pray to God about their struggles than to gossip about them?
Thank You, Father, for Your Spirit’s tender conviction of sin. Forgive me for allowing circumstances to distract me from praying. Help me pause when I’m tempted to grumble or gossip and ask myself: Do I want to enjoy the temporary satisfaction that comes from complaining or do I want to seek victory through prayer? In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen. {James 4:2,7; 5:13-16; 1 Samuel 12:23}
Go Deeper: James 4:2, James 4:7, James 5:13-16, 1 Samuel 12:23.
This devotion correlates with the Prayer Study available free to our newsletter subscribers. Sign-up here or below. I pray these words spoke truth and life to your heart. If they have, will you share in comments with us?
That is beautiful, Amy! I can identify with doing some of the same things in my life and I just forget or get to busy to stop and give it all to God!
It’s easy to do, isn’t it? So thankful that God gently convicts!
Thank you for sharing Amy. You helped me realize that I have been struggling with the same thing.
Aw, thanks for taking the time to read this. I am finding that it really does help to PAUSE when I’m tempted to complain about something or someone and ask myself: do I want to pray to God and seek His help in this matter or do I want to waste time grumbling? LOL.