A Focus on God
By Sarah Walker
“The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”Philippians 4:5b-6 (ESV)
All too often, it seems the magnitude of our concerns end up consuming the majority of our time and passion when we pray. When we do this, we keep our focus on the problem. In a way, the problem becomes our god. And it is to what our thoughts - - and, indeed, lives - - become devoted. If God is only given a corner of the space in our hearts and minds, it means that we have erected an idol in our lives. And in this case, it is often an idol that we do not want around!
If we are not careful, we can end up giving more respect to the problem than to God. When that happens, we wallow in our fears and worries and let them consume us. God did not design us to be consumed in this way! Instead, He designed us in His image, and we are to imitate Him.
God is in control of everything that happens and is sovereign over every single situation that comes our way. Rather than letting the problem consume us, we have the option of letting God consume us. It may not be easy. It may take a lot of effort, but God promises that He will be found if we seek Him with our whole hearts. And the more we practice doing this, the easier it becomes.
He is revealing Himself to us. Do we perceive it?
No matter how much we have already learned about God, there will always be even more to discover about who God is and how big He is. How powerful He is. How unrivaled He is. We should look at the character of God and become intimately familiar with Him: His faithfulness...His righteousness...His justice...His love...and His patience.
Once we are firmly looking at God and focused on Him, then we can make our requests to God in such a way that we won’t be anxious about anything. The more we focus on God and who He is - - no matter how big our concerns are - - the more easily we will be able to let go of our cares and entrust them to our Creator and to our Redeemer.
If we are not careful, we can end up giving more respect to the problem than to God. When that happens, we wallow in our fears and worries and let them consume us. God did not design us to be consumed in this way! Instead, He designed us in His image, and we are to imitate Him.
God is in control of everything that happens and is sovereign over every single situation that comes our way. Rather than letting the problem consume us, we have the option of letting God consume us. It may not be easy. It may take a lot of effort, but God promises that He will be found if we seek Him with our whole hearts. And the more we practice doing this, the easier it becomes.
He is revealing Himself to us. Do we perceive it?
No matter how much we have already learned about God, there will always be even more to discover about who God is and how big He is. How powerful He is. How unrivaled He is. We should look at the character of God and become intimately familiar with Him: His faithfulness...His righteousness...His justice...His love...and His patience.
Once we are firmly looking at God and focused on Him, then we can make our requests to God in such a way that we won’t be anxious about anything. The more we focus on God and who He is - - no matter how big our concerns are - - the more easily we will be able to let go of our cares and entrust them to our Creator and to our Redeemer.
GOING DEEPER:
- How much do your prayers focus on the magnitude of the concerns rather than the magnitude of God?
- Choose one or two characteristics of God to study or focus on. Learn more about who He is and incorporate those attributes into your requests to God.
FURTHER READING:Jeremiah 29:13, Psalm 46:1-3, Ephesians 3:17-19
Sarah is married to Scott and is a full-time mom to their two young sons. She and Scott are involved in a small group focused on prayer.
