And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
--1 John 5:14-15
There’s no doubt that prayer changes things. It’s a clear promise from the Scripture. But prayer also changes you and me. It changes our priorities…and it gets our lives in sync with God’s plan.
There’s a great formula for prayer I learned from my fellow pastor and friend, Dr. Edwin Young from Houston. It’s the acronym SELF:
S stands for surrender. Each day, you and I must surrender our lives to the Lord. We must say, “Lord, I report for duty, I give You my life today. I am Your child and I want to be in Your will today.”
E stands for empty. Once you surrender your life to Christ each day, you must empty yourself of self and sin and anything else that would keep you from fulfilling God’s plan and purpose for your life. You must say, “Lord, I empty all my unresolved conflicts and issues. I want to get rid of everything that would keep me from connecting with You today.”
L stands for lift. Once you surrender your life to the Lord Jesus and empty yourself of everything that would hinder your relationship with Him, you must lift your heart in praise, petition, and thanksgiving.
F stands for fill. This is when you ask God to fill you with His Holy Spirit so that you will live in the fullness of His power and His blessing.
So SELF is surrendering, it is emptying, it is lifting, and it is filling. And if you do these things in prayer every day, not only is your relationship with Christ going to be that much sweeter, you’ll make an eternal impact on the world for Jesus Christ!
Prayer is a vital part of getting our lives in sync with God’s plan.
by Dr. Paul Chappell
“Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them; Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.”
Jeremiah 29:5–7
As Christians, we recognize that eternity matters more than the present, and that we are part of a kingdom that is not of this world. Though Paul was a citizen of the Roman Empire with all of the rights that came with that position, he wrote, “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20). First and foremost we are children of God, and that should always be our priority.
However, we also live in this world. God told Jeremiah to send instructions to the Israelites living in captivity in Babylon that while they were there, they should build homes and plant gardens. Babylon was not God’s ultimate plan for His people. One day He would touch the heart of Cyrus to send the captives back to Israel. But that was in the future, and in the meantime, God wanted them to be good and productive people who made the place where they were living better by being there.
The same principle applies for us. The fact that we are God’s people should not just change how we live on Sundays, but every day. We need to be shining lights and examples of God’s goodness. George Washington wrote, “We are persuaded that good Christians will always be good citizens, and that where righteousness prevails among individuals, the Nation will be great and happy.”
Today’s Growth Principle:
Being a child of God should make us a better neighbor, worker, and citizen as a testimony to His power.
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