Prayer, Praise and Pursuit

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

James 1:5-8 NKJV

Have you paid attention lately to the tenor of your prayers? No, not tenor like Domingo or Pavarotti, but tenor meaning the settled or prevailing or habitual course of a person's life. We're talking about intentional. Settled. Prevailing. Habitual. The course of a person's prayer life. Planned.

I believe in spontaneous prayer and/or praise, but I also think there needs to be intentional prayer and/or praise. We can NOT count the worried thoughts thrown somewhere in the general direction of the sky as prayer any more than we can throw our boots in the oven and bake them and expect a biscuit when the timer goes off.

If I ask God for wisdom to live my life, and I am not intentional about believing He will give it to me according to His Word (the plan), then I would be drifting like a wave of the sea. And just like it is dangerous to be adrift on the sea, powerless, without an anchor, it is infinitely more dangerous to be adrift in the sea of life.

Merriam-Webster defines adrift as:

1 : without motive power and without anchor or mooring
<a boat adrift on the sea>
2 : without ties, guidance, or security
<people morally adrift>
3 : free from restraint or support

And while not being restrained may seem like a good thing to lots of people, no support is a bad thing ("There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end of that way is death... Proverbs 14:12"). Without God's motivating power, without the Cross as our anchor or mooring, without the ties, guidance or security of our relationship with Christ, His Word, His people, we are unstable in all our ways.

How do we build relationship with Christ? We talk to Him. We get to know Him. We find out about things He's done. Things He's going to do. (Prayer, praise and pursuit).

So do we just want to drift along or do we want to plan our course?

Prayer:

Father,
           According to Your Word in Psalm 141:4, Don’t let us drift toward evil or take part in acts of wickedness. Don’t let us share in the delicacies of those who do wrong. We need Your wisdom to plot our course in life and to follow Your plan. Let everything we do and everything we say be intentionally faithful to You. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen