Never pray the P word.

[dmgraham]

I am sure the word Patience means little to most of you. To me, I know better. Every time in my life I have prayed for it, I have another child. Don't get me wrong, I love my children but after the fifth I realized that my husband had very little to do with it. God taught my rock head the way of Patience. These days, I pray for wisdom and strength. ;D

[beckyminor]

LOL! While I don't have as many little ones as you, I can totally attest to the way God uses children to teach and transform us adults. I know I would be a very different person today, were it not for the arrival of my children in my life.

What is we pray for patience for you? Would that still have the same effect?

[journeyman]

Also praying for the W word, wisdom, can land you in some interesting situations. That's were I've been for the past few years, praying for wisdom. There are times when I would much prefer a Matrix download. :-)

[dizzyjam]

I find that anything you pray to God for, he will put you in a situation or situations that cause you to have to make choices that will allow what you've asked of Him to be developed within you. Then it's up to you. He's done what He can.

Nothing I have the freedom yet to be open about, but I can definitely attest that when you ask for something, He'll put you in a situation that will make you uncomfortable. It's designed for growth, but we either don't recognize it or don't like it, so we miss it. I've missed a lot of opportunities for growth, while others I think I've met head on. When you don't go for it, don't be surprised later when God is mysteriously not answering you in other areas of growth you're asking Him for. He's made it clear to me that if I don't obey Him in one area, He can't trust me in other areas. It gets really wierd at times.

Look at the uncomfortableness for a moment. God gives things to us in seed form. A seed must be buried and endure the pressures of the ground in order to produce what is within. So when we ask for something, don't be surprised at the uncomfortableness, it is the only way He can get out of you what He has planted within.

Focusing on self will never work. God will always put you where you are to be of service to others. "Self" spelled backwards is "Fles" which is almost "Flesh", so if you will allow the play on words, being "selfish" could be "selflesh" and adding an "h" to the beginning of "self" shows where people focus on "his" or "her" "self" = "h-self". God has to cause us to look beyond ourselves. We ask for things to benefit us, yet He shows us that what truly benefits us is when we benefit others. Then what we asked for is revealed within us.

Even the gifts of the Holy Spirit which have been so misunderstood and even misused in recent years aren't for the bearer of the gift to go around saying, "Look at me, I speak in tongues, or I can prophesy, or I can interpret, or I have the gift of healing, or whatever...." No, each of those gifts are to be used for other people that the bearer will encounter in life.

The thinking isn't that we should or shouldn't pray for certain things, but anytime we pray for things, to expect God to do something in our lives that will develop that very thing, and depending on how far along we are already, it might get pretty uncomfortable.

I like a couple of things a couple of different ministers have said:

One minister said, "Find your chokehold." He said whatever God tells you to do that causes you to *URK!* *gurgle* *Eechk!* *Aaaghk!* *choke* is what you need to do to grow. He used an illustration of a little comic panel he saw where this bird (a pelican or a stork) was trying to swallow a frog, but the frog had a hold of the bird's neck. That frog wasn't going down without a fight! Same thing with God, whatever He gives you that seems too big to handle is when we need to let go and trust Him in it.

Another minister said that so many people are seeking the gifts of the Holy Spirit (and this is a well-known televangelist that uses the gifts very much in his own ministry), but are not seeking the giver of the gifts. He said that it is more important for us to seek the giver of the gifts and stay in that.

I think as we seek the Holy Spirit and continue to as He reveals Himself to us, then the "jarring" effect of gifts and development within us will not be as great as it is when we are not seeking Him. I think that if we focus on God, He will develop us what He needs to in His own timing. Yes, I think He leads us to certain things and we need to ask Him for them, but even then, it will be a progression that will come from Him and not from us trying to do things "ahead of schedule".

Just some things I've been learning and still are.

Another thing, and this isn't really Bible, but from another source, yet it fits: "All lessons are repeated until learned."

[r2streu]

I've often found myself in situations in which I say to God, "Lord, I don't remember asking for patience."

It is in these moments that God says, "No, You asked to be a man fit for My service. And you need patience."

[dmgraham]

No, I really did learn the P lesson. ;D

[Kristen]

A friend of mine (a former middle-school teacher) put it this way: "If you pray for patience, God will give you something to be patient about." I kind of wish she'd told me that before I'd spent so many years praying for patience.

[dizzyjam]

Dec 6, 2009 22:17:30 GMT -5 dmgraham said:

No, I really did learn the P lesson. ;D

Perhaps He's expanding the amount of patience you need for something in the future. I find He has interesting ways to train us.

[dmgraham]

I know! I know! Darn P word. ;D

I love smiles.