Greetings to you in the wonderful name of Jesus Christ – THE Risen Saviour! Wow! what a beautiful morning…this is a “given day” for sure – on many levels. So it is time to do morning ‘exercises’ – thank God for 7 people in your life, thank God for the food in your cupboards, thank God for the clothes that you have to wear, thank God for the telephone, thank God for your computer and being able to connect with people, thank God for your eyesight and the ability to read, thank God for your home, thank God for your voice and being able to sing-speak-express yourself, thank God for your memories, thank God for everything else! Oh! it is so good to give your ‘praise muscles’ a little warm-up. Today I will be praying for you, asking Father to hold you close and rejoice over who you are and to sing to you a song of his love.
I was drawn to a verse of scripture that spoke to me about the importance of being very specific when I am praying. It says this in Job 36:32 – He [God] fills his hands with lightning and commands it to strike its mark. I must confess that it is far too easy…and safe, to pray for someone or about something and simply ask God to “bless” him or her or that situation. I understand that there are times when I don’t know the 5 W’s about the person or situation…but truth be told, that isn’t very often. Praying a general – “please bless” – releases me from entering into an understanding about someone’s life situation or learning about the ‘ins and outs’ of situations or events. Not being specific saves me time and involvement…but leaves me uninvolved, isolated, and aloof, often projecting a sense of not caring.
Of course, if I am not specific…I won’t know if the prayer was answered in a way that I can identify with or even give thanks back to God for…and I cannot be disappointed or disillusioned or challenged. However if I really want to grow and develop as a person of prayer I need to be specific. The scripture verse says that it is in God’s hands and heart…”to strike the mark” with a lightning bolt of divine power. ‘To strike what mark?’ – the mark that I by faith place on a person or situation or event. Again, truth be told, I don’t just want God to bless my friend in some nebulous way that I cannot identify. I want God to heal his cancer or to mend her broken spirit or to restore their relationship or to manifest his presence in that gathering — so I put a mark, a target for God to ‘aim for’. I want God to know that I am serious and that I am trusting in his ability and I want God to know that I am looking for a result.
Yes there are times, many times in fact where the results that I was looking for did not occur…but this I can say with great confidence — God has never missed the mark! When I pray specifically, I can identify how He has hit the mark whether it was what I expected or not.
Something to ponder – be blessed with a happy heart and a bright spirit…I will be watching to see how his lightning bolt strikes the mark!