Prayer Thought: STOP RUNNING! IT’S BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH.

“Oh, men and women, pray through; pray through! Do not just begin to pray and pray a little while and throw up your hands and quit; but pray and pray and pray until God bends the heavens and comes down.”

-R.A. Torrey

“What causes us to think of prayer as the last option rather than the first? I can think of two reasons: feelings of independence and feelings of insignificance.”

-Max Lucado

Do you ever find yourself running from God? Maybe your running is on purpose because you’re angry at God or feel rejected in some way. It’s hard to trust in God’s sovereignty over your life if you doubt His goodness.

Maybe your running is unintentional, but you’ve just begun to feel that distance and disconnection with God. Life happens! And when life happens, busyness happens sometimes to the point that when you’re finally able to sit down to replay the day’s events, you realize you’ve had very little or no thoughts of God throughout the whole day.

I may be showing my cards a bit here, but I like to be in control of the circumstances in my life. At the root of this is of course pride; thinking that if I am in control, then I get to determine the outcome of things. And I wrongfully reason then, that no one sees my weaknesses. So, I struggle with perfectionism, thinking that I have to have all the right answers, I have to be an oak for everyone around me, I have to look and act like I always know what I’m doing, and on and on it goes…lies, lies, lies! Now couple that with a serious decline in my health over the past number of months where I couldn’t “hide” what I was feeling from bunches of people…and BAM!  Imagine what this mindset can do to my relationship with the Lord. Instead of running TO the Lord in my greatest time of need, I started running AWAY because I didn’t have control of my circumstances any longer! When I’m not thinking biblically (correctly), this mentality strains my relationship with Him by always doubting His sovereign control of my life and health! Now even as I write this, I know how terrible this theology is…that’s why I said it was a big fat LIE! So, I stopped running and surrendered ALL control over to the One who is the Great Healer! I began to rest in God’s strength, not my own…I honestly had none. When I did, even though my health symptoms didn’t change, my attitude and countenance did. I haven’t stopped praying and praising since!

Sure, things happen and negative thoughts creep in. But stop running! It’s bad for your spiritual health. Go to the Lord in prayer. Humbly submit to His will, not your own. He will engulf you with unspeakable joy as you lay the burdens of this life down at the foot of the cross. 

Prayer Action:

Father, I’ve been running for far too long, trying to do things in my own strength. Today I stop running on my own and instead, run to You. I ask that You help me humbly submit to Your will each day. Thank You that I can find the rest and joy that I’ve been longing for solely in Your presence. Help me preach this truth to myself throughout the day. In the strong and mighty name of Jesus, Amen.

Blessings,

 

 Clay

 

Clayton J. Elliott, Kontaktmission USA
Director of Pastoral Ministries and Prayer
clay@GoKMUSA.org