Let God Fight Your Battles by Joyce Meyer

Author:Joyce Meyer [MEYER, JOYCE]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Religion / Christian Life / Personal Growth, Religion / Christian Life / Spiritual Growth, Religion / Christian Life / Inspirational
Publisher: FaithWords
Published: 2015-06-02T00:00:00+00:00

So often, we go to God for healing, breakthrough, or deliverance, and the first thing we talk to Him about is what we need or want. We say, “Lord, I need healing. I can’t stand this pain anymore. You’ve got to do something, Lord. You’ve got to change my circumstance.”

But when the man in the story of Matthew 8 came to Jesus to be healed of his leprosy, he first lay facedown before Him and worshipped Him. Then he asked, “Lord, would You please heal me?”

This story emphasizes the lesson we learned from the story of the ruler and his daughter, at the beginning of this chapter: It is best to worship before presenting our requests. When we pray, we need more praise than petition. Asking God for things is fine. In fact, the Bible teaches us to do so (see Philippians 4:6), but I don’t believe we should begin our prayers with requests. What we talk about first often reveals what is most important to us, and we need to make sure God Himself and our relationship with Him is more important to us than anything else. Remember, the Bible says we are to enter His gates with thanksgiving and come into His courts with praise (see Psalm 100:4).

If we take a close look at the prayers of the apostle Paul, we can learn some powerful lessons about what our priorities should be in our relationship with God. In Ephesians 3, he prayed above all for the people to know and experience the love of God, to have a real revelation of God’s power in their lives. In Philippians 1, he prayed for people to choose things that are excellent. In Colossians 1, he prayed that the believers would be strengthened with all power to exercise every kind of endurance and patience with joy. He also prayed many other wonderful prayers.

When I first began to closely study Paul’s prayers, I realized he did not ask for material things. He was more concerned with spiritual needs than with material needs. His prayers were also filled with thanksgiving, which is a type of praise and worship.

I am sure Paul presented his physical needs to the Lord, but obviously that kind of praying did not fill much of his prayer time. We see the same principle in Jesus’ prayers. He did not spend time asking for His material needs and wants to be fulfilled; He knelt in the Garden and prayed to be strengthened to do God’s will (see Luke 22:41–44). When He was weary from ministering to people, He went to the mountains to pray (see Matthew 14:23; Mark 6:46), and I feel sure His prayers were filled with praise and worship.

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