Ask Away

The past few months I have been faced with an overwhelming amount of newness. New places, new people, new pastimes, new habits, new churches, new weather, new home! I have adjusted to most of it pretty easily, since I believe that God has been preparing me for this stage of life for a while. What I don't feel prepared for, however, is the future. I am completely at a loss as to the specifics of what I want to do, where I want to be, and who I want to be with. A lot of the time I find myself frustrated that God hasn't magically revealed those things to me already, and that I feel confused and unsure when I should feel confident. The problem is always with me though, not God (which seems to be a trend in my life...) I realized recently that I do not ask Jesus for guidance in my life like I should-it is not enough to simply pray about the "essentials". No, a true relationship with Christ, and a true submission to His will as your Shepherd, Father, and Lord is talking to Him about every aspect of life! It's asking Him about amoral decisions, instead of relying on your own judgement. It's crying out for help and asking for His protection in the sinful world in which we live. Here's what John Piper had to said about prayer:


Christians have stopped believing that we are in a war. . . . what did they do with the walkie-talkie? They tried to rig it up as an intercom in their cushy houses . . . not to call in fire power for conflict with a mortal enemy, but to ask the maid to bring another pillow to the den.

Clearly prayer is not simply for us to submit our wishlist to God. I have often had to remind myself that my focus should be on the Creator, not his created things. And yet He loves to hear my heart's desires! I can share my fears and excitements with Christ, like I would with any other friend. That to me is such an important, yet neglected part of prayer in my own life, and doing so destroys any "religious" aspect of my Christianity and promotes what it should be-a relationship. Not part of my life, but my life. He loves it when we call out to Him-I can literally almost feel His smile when I talk to Him. And all we have to do is ask :)