Asking God for the Small Things:

I have recently started a Devotional book about prayer through the Daily Grace Company. It is called Pray: Cultivating a Passionate Practice of Prayer by Shelby Turner.  This has been really insightful and it has been really helpful for me to think about prayer in different ways.  One thing I read this morning was being willing to pray to God for everything.  This doesn’t have to just be the big things we encounter in life, but it can also be the small requests and things we may have popping up from time to time. 

There are times we subconsciously can think as people of God only being able to handle so much.  He is listening to all people and knows all their thoughts and their requests, it may not really seem fair to try to take up his time praying for small and trivial things. We shouldn’t spend His time or energy in this way.  

There was a great quote from the devotional I read today about not thinking God is only capable of a few prayers.  In actuality, He is powerful and able to handle the big prayers a person can pray to the small prayers and everything in between.  This quote said, “To limit our prayers because we think God may have better things to tend to is to believe that the limitless God has met his limit.”  (Pg. 73). This really struck me.  God doesn’t have a limit when it comes to listening to the prayers of His people.  He doesn’t have a strict amount he can listen to.  He can listen to all people all at one time. 

One verse I believe highlights this concept is John 15:7 which says, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” We should still know the Word of God and what He wants to teach us.  This is to know and understand His Word, and then therefore His plan and His character will become more and more known to us in general.  Praying to God will feel more and more like a conversation. When it becomes more of a conversation, we will feel compelled to go to Him for everything. We will be in constant contact. 

There also needs to be an understanding of God sometimes saying no, or not yet.  There are times we need to be patient when it comes to our prayer life.  We need to be willing to pray to God for all things and to be willing to accept what God wants to give us and what works best in His plan.   This can show we are looking to God for all things in our lives.  This means we can look to Him for his guidance even when it is something small in life and even when He does what we didn’t originally ask for. 

One small thing I am praying for is prayer over weather.  There are times when I am really hopeful for an event or a day, sometimes even when these are Godly events or days but I am really nervous about the weather.  I am nervous that the weather is going to come and ruin the plans and the work or the hopeful experience.  One other small thing I have been starting to pray over is to help me prepare for a full marathon.  I have done a few different half marathons and many other race distances, but I have never done the full marathon.  I have always wanted to, but there has been a lot of fear when it comes to a full marathon race.  I haven’t fully signed up yet, I just have started the mental prep.  However, I know I can depend on God and through Him and His strength I can do this. 

It can be easy to do this in a controlling manner.  Sometimes we like to believe we can handle the small things.  Even if it is the things giving us slight anxiety, even if it is something we find frustrating, we can tell ourselves we are capable of handling the stress, the anxiety, the frustration.  While in some part, we need to take responsibility for our actions and how we feel about certain things, we also need to be aware we can depend on God for all things.  We don’t have to shoulder that anxiety alone. 

The challenge for this week is to spend time in prayer and to pray to God for all things, even add a few small requests or petitions to God.  This could really help make the Lord know you trust Him completely and fully, even with the small things usually forgotten.