Mission Venture Ministries

“Teach me the way in which I should walk; for to You I lift up my soul.” (Psalm 143:8)

When life is going well, we often keep going without giving much time to prayer. Many of us pray but our prayer often fail to draw us deep into fellowship with God. When problems or tragedy hit, that is when our prayers tend to increase and become more fervent.

King David wrote numerous heartfelt prayers asking God to be with him, to protect and avenge him, and to remember him according to God’s love and righteousness. We see his anxious prayer to God in Psalm 27:7 –“Hear my voice when I call, O Lord; be merciful to me and answer me.” As we see, trials force us to turn to and rely on God.

Sadly most of us live our lives on autopilot. We get up, work, eat, go to bed, and repeat everything over again. Even when difficulties arise, our self-reliance increases, pushing us further from God. But when things get tough and our ability to maintain even a semblance of normality and control, then we tend to run to God.

We should not wait until this happens, to discover that God’s is always there to comfort us and to guide us.

If we belong to Christ, we’ve got the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, and one of the Spirit’s role is to align believers with God’s will. This process occurs progressively over time as He alters our thinking, desires, and priorities to more closely align with His. This process often accelerates during trials and problems. We need to remember that if we obey the Lord “The Spirit of truth . . . will guide me into all truth” (John 16:13).

When we are unsure of God’s will for our life, we should pray and meditate on His Word because it guides us: “Show me the way I should go, for to You I lift up my soul” (Psalm 143:8) and, “Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long” (Psalm 25:5).

When in doubt we should ask Him: If I am making a wrong decision Lord please let your Holy Spirit stir up my conscience and if I am leaning towards the right decision give me peace and encourage me to proceed according to Your will, because “You my Lord will guide me always” (Isaiah 58:11).

The Lord will guide us, and if He is calling us to walk in faith, we need to ask Him to encourage us by His presence. “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9). And we need to remember to, “cast all our anxiety on Him because He cares for us” (1 Peter 5:7).

We need to “Trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding, and in all my ways submit to Him, and He will direct our paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

If what we are asking is according to God’s plans for us, He will give us the peace that transcends all understanding and open up the way; and if not, He will show us another direction that He already has in mind for us.

Proverbs 16:3 tell us to “commit to the Lord whatever we do, and He will establish our plans.”

Whatever our need or fear is today; we need to go before the throne of grace in confidence because Christ has already made the way. We need to tell God our worries and concerns. Ask for rescue and deliverance. Instead of despairing over what could or might happen, we need to run to the One who holds the world in the palm of His hands. We need to rest in the Jesus who said: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (Matthew 6:25-27).

We need to find our peace in the knowledge that He is the Alpha and Omega, the One who knows the beginning and the end. Nothing in our future will surprise God because it is all under His sovereign rule and care. And because we are His, we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).

Always remember that once we ask we need to start thanking God for His faithfulness in guiding us and showing us the way. So let us “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him” (Psalm 37:7). Continual, persistent, incessant prayer is an essential part of Christian living and flows out of humility and dependence on God.

The promise is that: “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:31).

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