Ch. 17 - Praying the Dangerous Prayers

Once again Lysa TerKeurst gives us a glimpse into her life as she opens chapter 17 of "Becoming More than a Good Bible Study Girl" with a story straight from her life script. After sharing the details, she writes, "I suddenly came to understand a slight flaw in my prayer life. As I thought about the way I prayed, I realized how often my prayers seemed to center around ways I wanted God to bless me. Now none of these are bad prayers, if there even is such a thing as a bad prayer. They are honest prayers, heartfelt prayers, common prayers, the prayers of many women who are rising to the daunting task of caring for their families.

But they are slightly flawed prayers becasue they set my expectations of God to be what I want without taking into consideration the possibility of God's bigger plan. I make God into One who stunts my growth with convenience and comfort rather than One who grows me into a woman of character, perseverance and maturity."

Take a minute and think about your prayers. Are they prayers asking for blessing, comfort and safety? Like Lysa said, there is nothing wrong with that, but do you take it to the next step? Are you satisfied with comfort and convenience when He's longing to give you growth and greatness?

If you answered "yes" to that last question, ask God to give you the strength and desire to pray the dangerous prayers. Knowing doing so may inconvenience you and stretch you, but ultimately it will help you become more and be the woman He created you to be!

A couple of things to remember -
"We want the promises, but we don't want to get any dirt under our fingernails in the process."

"Power enters our prayers not by sounding powerful, but by listening for even the slightest whisper from the One who is all-powerful."