![]() "Prayer itself is a gift, not an entitlement. Prayer is the key that gives us access to experiencing His work in our lives and is always designed to set the stage for Him to be seen more clearly and more fully. It is God’s gracious idea for giving us a divinely orchestrated mechanism through which we can have ongoing fellowship with Him and where He allows us to be active participants in the outworking of His purposes on Earth. Prayer itself is a gift, not an entitlement. If you recognize that you are not in sync with Him in this area, ask His Spirit to adjust the posture of your heart and the priority of your prayers. If you cannot see a clear tie between what you’re asking God to do and how He’ll be glorified in doing it, you are out of step with the overarching goal of Jesus Himself-namely, “that the Father may be glorified” (John 14:13). So take inventory of your prayer life today. Reframing our priorities in prayer around this goal will shift much of what we ask Him for and how we approach Him in our asking. Even as we pray about the most practical aspects of life regarding our children or finances or careers, the ultimate end goal must be to highlight God. The ultimate goal of our prayers and requests should mirror Elijah’s example. The fire was only a means to a greater, more eternal end-for Yahweh to be glorified. In other words, the fire itself was not the goal. His request was unapologetically rooted in a desire for God’s authority to be on display and for His magnificence to be amplified before everyone on that mountain. But Elijah’s focus and ultimate goal was spelled out clearly in his simple prayer. If we’re honest, sometimes our prayers are watered down with a number of different self-motivated objectives: fulfilling our personal interests, impressing other people, or even just checking a box on our religious to-do list. Lord, answer me so that … You will be glorified. Instead they’re simple, assured, and include these three important markers. ![]() The most powerful prayers, whether public or private, are the ones devoid of meaningless, pious platitudes. Even with the high stakes atop Mount Carmel, he simply rooted his prayer in three important end results. And too often when praying in group settings (as Elijah was doing), our goal is mainly to impress people with our flowery grasp of spiritual vocabulary.īut Elijah’s prayer wasn’t driven by panic or public approval. Too often we tend to think the only way to get God to move is to pray louder, pray longer, pray harder-to pray as if we’re hunting for the right magic words, especially if significant time passes and our wait to see God respond continues. His prayer on Mount Carmel was rooted in relationship, and that’s where our prayers can be rooted as well. Confident trust had been cemented during these three years. He didn’t need to overcompensate by filling the air with superfluous words. ![]()
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