The problem with most of our prayer petitions is that they assume that we know what’s best for us. So our prayers are nothing more than an attempt to cause God to surrender to our will. This way of praying is to see our Heavenly Father more like a genie in a lamp rather than almighty God.

In yesterday’s devotional we saw that when we pray our focus should be on who God is and what He has done and not on who we are and what we want. We said that it was very important to begin our prayers declaring God’s greatness, because this step allows us to put our prayers in the proper context, the context of God’s greatness and not our wishes and desires. The more we make declaring God’s greatness an intrical part of our prayers the easier it will become to take the next step, surrendering to His will.

Matthew 6: 9-10 NIV

“‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done,on earth as it is in heaven”.

The second step in our prayers is to surrender to our Heavenly Father’s will, before we even begin to present our request. Before we begin to assume that we know what’s best, we should declare, “Your will be done”.

It’s when we begin our prayers declaring to our Heavenly Father that we want to surrender to His will. It’s when we pray telling Him that we want His kingdom’s agenda to take place even over our own will and agenda that something extraordinary happens. That is when our prayers are no longer an exercise to convince Him of something but rather something intimate and personal … between God and us. It’s when we surrender to Him in the context of His greatness and as our Heavenly Father that we are finally able to recognize that He knows what’s best. That the wisest thing we can do is to seek and surrender to His will instead of trying to convince Him to surrender to ours.

Prayer was never intended to be a vehicle to convince God to change something. Prayer was intended to be an intimate tool for God to convince and change us. That even when we don’t understand His will it is through prayer that God wants to convince me to do change and to do things His way. Because after all, God does know what is best for us.

So before you present your prayer request to your Heavenly Father declare that you will be surrendering to His will even when it is contrary to what you believe to be best. Declare that in the same way God’s will takes place amongst the celestial beings in heaven, you want God’s will to take place on this earth in your life.

Its SIMPLE, prayer is not a tool to convince or change God’s mind, prayer is a tool that God wants to use to convince you and change your life.

Heavenly Father forgive me for the times I’ve gone up to you trying to convince you to do what I want, when no one but you knows what really is good for my life. Thank you Lord, because you’re teaching me the importance of surrendering to you so you can do your will in my life, it is always best for me.