Pray While You’re Prey Weekly Devotions for Singles
The title of my book and this devotion series is, Pray While You’re Prey. While it may seem like much of the focus is on the second “prey,” the issue of singleness, most of the focus should be on the first “pray.” It never ceases to amaze me that God wants to communicate with me. Who am I that He is concerned about me? Who am I that He should even care? God created heaven and earth and everything in it. He hung the sun, the moon, and the stars. He gave life to plants, animals, man and woman. He is all-knowing, ever-present and all powerful. Why would He, as great as He is want to talk to a speck of dust like me? Simply, He wants to talk to me because I am His. God doesn’t want us to worship Him out of religion and routine. God wants a relationship. He wants us to worship Him in spirit and in truth. How can we be our true selves before God if we do not communicate with Him? God desires intimacy, authenticity, and dependency. He wants to help. But, we have to stop thinking that our issues are too small to bother God. We have to stop thinking that God is a genie meant to grant wishes. We need to start thinking about how we like those we love to communicate with us. Imagine a relationship in which the person you love only talks to you when he or she needs something. Imagine a relationship in which your significant other does not want to share the intimate details of his or her feelings. The difference is that in human relationships, we may never know what is hidden deep within, but God always knows our innermost thoughts and desires. He is just wondering why we don’t bring them to Him. Imagine a relationship where one person does all the talking and never listens. Communication is two ways. Yes, God wants to hear our thoughts, our pains, our joys, our desires, our victories, but He also wants us to listen. He wants us to come to Him boldly and believing that He and He alone has the answer. We need to not go to God worried that He won’t answer. While we might not always hear the answer we want to hear, we have to know that God’s answer is best and that there is no other option, but to follow His path. If you find yourself feeling empty, exasperated, exhausted, truly ask yourself if you have been communicating with God. Trust me, I know it is easy to run to a friend or family member with every thought or concern, but as well meaning as that person may be, we cannot forget to pray. We must keep the lines of communication open with the Loving Father who only wants our best for his glory! Prayer Thank You, God for being a God that I don’t have to be scared to talk to. Please forgive me for running to others when I need to cast my cares upon You. Lord, please help me to never be lax in my communication and relationship with You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen *Scripture quotations are from the New International Version ©1984, unless otherwise indicated.
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Pray While You’re Prey Weekly Devotions for Singles
Every day when I get off work, I call my mom for a daily debrief. It gives me a chance to find out about her day, give her a rundown of my day. I get a chance to vent if something out of the ordinary happens and my mom is a fantastic listener. It is a very rare occasion that she interrupts me or offers unsolicited advice. She talks and I listen. Then, I talk and she listens. It is fantastic. But, there are some times when I need someone to talk to and it is way too late to call my mom or even one of my friends. As fantastic as it is to talk to my mommy, it is awesome to know that I have a Heavenly Father that I can call on at anytime. I really am not much of a talker anymore. I am a very introverted person and my mom is the main person with whom I talk for an extended period of time. I much prefer to write, e-mail, message, or text. And, the beautiful thing about God is that I never have to open my mouth to communicate with Him. All I have to do is open my heart. We all need someone that we can reach out to at any time. While it is nice to have a family member or friend who we can always call, God desires to be the first Friend that we think of when we want to talk. He will always be available. If we have something great happen, He wants us to bring it to Him. When something hurts us, He wants us to bring it to Him. When we are excited, He wants us to share it with Him. When we are confused, He wants us to come to Him. It’s not that it is wrong to speak to someone else because God can use others to speak what He needs us to hear, but God wants us to seek His face first. In the Psalm, it says, “When I called, You answered me….” How many of your friends and family members can you say that about? Even though we may have the best intentions, it’s impossible for us as human beings to be there for each other all of the time. So, thank God for God. Thank God for His omniscience and omnipresence. Thank God that He can hear me call and you call and answer all of us at the same time. He’s just good like that. And, just like the psalmist, once we realize that when we call on the name of Jesus, something awesome is bound to happen, we can finally step boldly before the throne of grace and make our requests known to God. We can call on Him knowing that, whether it’s early in the morning, late in the evening or in the middle of the day, He will listen and He will answer. You are never alone. God hears you when you call Him. Prayer Thank You, God for answering me every single time I call on You. Please forgive me for seeking help from anyone other than You. Lord, please help me to remember that You will always be there for me and have my best in mind. In Jesus’ Name, Amen *Scripture quotations are from the New International Version ©1984, unless otherwise indicated.
Pray While You’re Prey Weekly Devotions for Singles
At some point in my life, I realized that what I deemed to be me just talking to myself was not me talking to myself at all. It was prayer. Prior to this point, I felt that in order to pray, I had to get on my knees, bow my head, and close my eyes. Or, I felt I had to lay prostrate before Him to get His attention. But, as my pastor often says prayer is not about a position. Whether I am driving in my car, sitting in my classroom, on my couch in my living, in the mall, in church, in bed, it does not matter, I can pray all of the time. And, thank God for that! When the Bible says to pray without ceasing, I used to think that it was impossible. Then, I got in touch with my inner dialogue and I discovered that the things I was saying, thinking, and asking were not things for which I had answers. The only One who could calm my innermost fears or answer my deeply thought-out questions was God Himself. So, I realized that prayer is a conversation. It is the constant conversation that I have with Christ. It is the time when I stop to praise Him for the sunshine that pokes through on a rainy day. It is the time when I am taken aback by the fact that He loves me and I did nothing to deserve it. It is the time when my mind wanders into place it has no business going and I ask for forgiveness. It is the times when I have questions and I ask the all-knowing Father. God asks us to pray continually because He wants to be present in every part of our lives; not just the parts where it is convenient to get on our knees or bow our heads. He wants to be there for us in the huge events that drive us to our knees and in the everyday, mundane, blessed boring times of life. God wants to be the center of our focus, so that He can guide us in the direction on the blessings that He has already bestowed upon us. I often say, “Jesus saves…and I don’t mean just salvation; He saves a lot of people from the me that I would be.” Without constant communication between God and I, there is no telling how many more mistakes I would have made in my life. I have already made plenty trying to be a big girl and do things on my own. There were many times when I refused to talk to God about something because I didn’t want to know His answer. It is the same way we pick and choose which friends to go to for advice. It seems more comforting to hear what we want to hear, but in communication with God, He wants us to hear what we need to hear. In the single season, depending on how social a creature one is, there is a lot of time spent alone. That time can be dark and depressing or it can be peaceful and productive. One way to enjoy the “me” time that God has blessed us with is to communicate with Him and to listen to find out what the best use of our time will be. How can we be vessels for God in this season? How can we allow Him alone to be our comfort and our all? God will answer these questions and many others, but we have to talk to Him. We must have a never-ending conversation. Prayer Thank You, God for being a God who will allow me to speak to Him and will answer me when I have questions. Please forgive me for seeking to communicate with others before I seek You. Lord, please help me to listen and never be afraid to come to You with praises, confessions and concerns. In Jesus’ Name, Amen *Scripture quotations are from the New International Version ©1984, unless otherwise indicated.
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Pray While You're Prey Weekly DevotionsI pray that this 52-week devotional honors Him and blesses you. Enjoy! Archives
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