Praying for What You Don’t Have

Sometime back in my teen years, my mother taught me about prayer. She said that many people pray what she called “Gimme, gimme, gimme” prayers. In case you missed the point, she meant that people are always asking God for things, usually selfish and trivial in nature. They are praying “Give me” prayers.

What should we be praying about? Can we ask God for the things we need in life?

Yes, we certainly can ask. In fact, Jesus told us to ask, seek, and knock (Matthew 7:7-8). He wants us to pray about everything, but He also wants us to move to the greater things in life.

Again and again, the Bible instructs us to ask and to do so about everything but especially the things that are eternal in nature.

Here are five things to pray for that you may not have. All of these are things God wants you to have. These are things you can pray for knowing they are in God’s will. You can be assured you will receive these because God has promised to give you whatever you ask in His name.

First, pray for wisdom and guidance. “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives to all men generously and without reproaching, and it will be given him” (James 1:5).

Second, pray for the filling of the Holy Spirit. “Be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18).

Third, pray for the mind of Christ. “Have this mind among yourselves, which you have in Christ Jesus . . . . And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death” (Philippians 2:5-8),

Fourth, pray that you may love one another. “Beloved if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4: 11).

Fifth, pray for the fruit of God’s Spirit in your life. God’s Spirit produces an abundance of wonderful fruit–love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

These are qualities we all need. God wants us to call on Him in prayer and seek what matters to Him.

 

Share this post

Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on linkedin
Share on email

4 Responses

  1. Waylon
    Thank you for the “five things “of prayer. We are going to have a pastor come in view of a call on August 5. Your insight came in handy during prayer time.

  2. Brother Waylon, Wonderful devotional. I loved this. Thank you for all you do and being the leader that you are. May God continue to strengthen you, protect you and uplift you and your family for His purpose.

Leave a Reply to Olivia Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *