In small group we were discussing Proverbs 3:6 and what it means....what it looks like or SHOULD look like. We all know it but I'm going to give you a couple of different versions to look at.
"in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." (NIV & NASB)
"seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take." (NLT)
"In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." (KJV)
"In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." (ESV)
I did look up The Message version and well..........I'm sure it helps some people. (I'll leave it at that.)
I wonder are we supposed to pray before everything, over everything? Do we only pray that He will show us His will for the "big" stuff? Do we pray for His will over our day to day puttering around, our work, our free time, our labor? Do we pray at the start of the day for His will and just hope everything and any thing that pops into our head (as far as decisions we have to make) is God directed?
As I sit here, typing it out, I more and more lean towards what we discussed in small group, that if we are living a God centered, God purposed, God driven life, I can't help but think that we would follow His will without having to stop at every little thing and pray about it. It would be second nature, so to speak.
I know for me there are some days that I need to pray about every little thing.......and usually that makes me realize that I have, 1) not been reading my bible enough, 2) have let my prayer life go, 3) or both.
Any thoughts and input out there in blogger reader land?
*I need to add that we were also discussing verse 5 that says "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding...
The "lean not on your own understanding" is a very difficult thing to do!! It's hard to wrap my brain around where my understanding should stop....and how to let God's understanding take over in all I do.
7 comments:
I believe my morning should look something like, waking up and committing my day to Him, giving Him my schedule and all that "I" want to accomplish over to Him and allow the day to unfold and as things don't happen the way that I want to thank Him and to seek Him in everything I do only reminds me of my dependency on HIM and my need for Him because He is in the little and big....he cares for all of it! I know that because he knows how many hairs are on my head! I think having a heart that is submissive to Him and willing to surrender all of it...from big things down to little things...I believe He is glorified!
I love to give my opinion and "wisdom", so first may I say, thanks for the opportunity!! Hehee I think that prayer is not a once and done thing. We are to be in an attitude of prayer and therefore as things come up we talk to our Lord throughout the day. Our choice is to listen and be in tune to His voice but He is always there watching over us personally and protection is there physically and spiritually. The Spirit tugs at our heart and ministers. I love the part in Dt. when speaking of the commandment to love the Lord your God it says the commands are to be upon our hearts,....impress them to your chldren, talk about them when you sit at home, when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up..tie them as symbols upon your hands and ...write them on your doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Prayer is communication and it comes in all forms, thought, spoken and unspoken, deeds, songs etc. Yes he is in the details and yes I do think we should pray for all things big and little, even if that is just the acknowlegement of His presence in our life and world. I think we need to be prudent when speaking to others so as not to appear boastful or prideful, especially to unbelievers who may not understand the intimacy we have in relationship to the triune God. It can be construed as obnoxious and insincere but we are not to judge motive.
well said mom!!!
I think so much of it ties into worrying. It's finding the ability to wake in the morning, allowing the Spirit to guide our day, and then living it out. We then free ourselves from the worry of the day, because let's face it, the inevitable happens....a child gets hurt, disobeys, lashes out irrationally, we worry, we argue with a friend or a spouse, someone dies, and so on and so on...whatever it is, it happens nonetheless. So now it's time to say, I will not lean on my own understanding, I WILL NOT WORRY, I WILL NOT TRY TO CONTROL THIS SITUATION IN MY LIFE, it's at those times that we hand it over to God and often find ourselves on our knees. There's a lot that happens in between where, thanks to our training and knowledge of the Bible and the Spirit, we don't have to seek advice, we just know instinctively the right thing to do...but I think Scriptures such as these are written for those times in our lives when it is hardest to "lean not on our own understanding" not the the times when the answer is obvious.
All very well said! for those 'small' decisions throughout the day I believe that God gave us intelligience, common sense, rational thinking. There are days when so much is going on and we are distracted and we stop and say "ok Lord, what was I doing? or what should I do next? or What should I make for suppoer?" But more often than not those are not the decisions we take to Him constantly. As you said Megan, and as Elizabeth said... if we are saturating ourselves with the word, and are regularly turning our days over to Him in prayer, good decisions and choices will come more naturally and smoothly.
There would be a lot more to say here... but that is just another angle to look at.
what is the video?? I started to watch but realized it's a long one. I will try to get to it though.
I read a great book on prayer called "A Praying Life" by Paul Miller (highly recommend). The very thing we often think we are doing is surrendering to him, but are we totally dependent on Him in everything, even the little "mundane" things? Anytime we "think we can handle it" is a time we are not depending on Him. It is the struggle of my life. Thanks for the dialogue!
Thanks everyone for responding! Sorry I didn't comment for so long. I have been a busy bee. Christy I will have to check that book out...
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