When We Pray: Devotional Day 683

Text: Genesis 32

When we pray we intentionally communicate with our Heavenly Father.

Through prayer, we submit that we don’t know it all, can not handle it all, and need guidance from the creator of all things.

When we pray we seek a relationship with the best person there is to walk through life with.

So, when we pray it is important that we remember to plead the promises of God and trust them to be fulfilled in his time.

Here are 5 steps that I’ve taken to pray more purposefully:

Daily Seek to Know God Better

Do this by spending time reading God’s word.

Pray With Humility and Thanksgiving

Acknowledge that we are not worthy of all that God does for us, but thankfully, we can call upon and rely on his promises. 

Repent. 

Boldly Ask

Use the promises of God from the word of God to ask for what you need.

Have Faith

Our faith is evident in how we behave after we pray.

The Story

Genesis 32 tells the story of Jacob’s return “home” after being in service to his mother’s brother Laban for some 20 years.

That 20-year time was full of plotting, scheming, halve truths, marriages, births, heartache, hard work, wealth building, and a half dependence on God.

During that time Jacob knew his Father’s God, but he did not fully rely on him at every turn. Instead, when the opportunity to rely on God arose, he took matters into his own hands. That is until he got to a place (Mahanaim) where metaphorically his own hands failed him. 

It is important to remember that every cause has an effect. We will always have to deal with the effects of wrongdoing. 

In Jacob’s case, it is his brother Esau that he wronged. The situation that caused him to flee 20 years earlier was the very situation causing him to fear his brother and once again result in plotting and scheming. 

Here, literally in front of Jacob,  was an opportunity to pray -trusting that God was with him and would protect him.

Instead of praying and trusting that God would Jacob sent men with messages and gifts. He also separated his people into two camps. (I.e. he created a large-scale systematic plan of his own)

God had literally sent angels to Jacob at Mahanaim. He called it God’s camp, so why didn’t Jacob simply pray? 

Answer: Proud self-reliance 

So what did God do? He got Jacob alone and he wrestled with him all night long. They wrestled until God thoroughly conquered him, helping Jacob to see his need to fully depend on the Lord.

Much like Jacob,  today’s reading helped me reflect on just how often I try to take matters into my own hands. My matters, family matters, my husband’s matters, it’s a problem. A problem that I’ll be working on from here on out.

If you don’t take anything else from this post, remember to pray and trust fully in God’s ability to provide and protect you.

He cares so much about us that even when we go our own way and do our own things he is willing to grab a hold of us and not let go until we fully understand how much we need him.

Our God is gracious,

Tonine