Learn to Linger with God

Don’t be too hasty with God. When I was younger, I was considered dangerous with a little knowledge. I would listen to a new concept, grab the parts that I understood, and run. In my eagerness to implement something new, I wasn’t always patient enough to learn everything that I needed to know.

It’s easy to be that way when we pray. We have our checklist of things that we want to give to Him and we run through them like we’re dictating our requests. In fairness, most of the time, we are heartfelt in our prayer. We bring God our legitimate needs, but we stop short of the intimacy that He wants from us.

Learn to linger. Once you spend quiet time in His presence, you’ll hear Him woo you to stay with Him. Don’t leave just yet. Stay a little longer. Just bask and soak in His love. That time is so precious to Him.

When I decide to linger and enjoy my God, I’ll hear Him say, Now show me your list. Let’s go through what you want. It comes after we exchange our love, in the peaceful place under the shadow of His wings.

You’ll find more breakthrough in the quiet place of lingering than all the pleading times of prayer.

Related articles

• Devotion

May the dew of heaven be yours.

I love the blessings of the Bible. When Issac blessed Jacob, he said, Therefore may God give you of the dew of heaven, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine. (Gen 27:28)

The dew of heaven–what ever that is, I want it. I’ll take the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine, but the dew of heaven would be my first choice. Can you imagine? Anything that drops from heaven has got to be permeated with the fragrance of God and blessed with grace.

Dew will completely cover the ground. There aren’t some spots here and other spots there. Anything that is exposed to the sky will be saturated with moisture. God’s blessing saturates abundantly. He gives more than we ask. It falls from the throne like rain on dry ground.

May the dew of heaven cover you with all the goodness, the grace, and blessings of God. May you be blessed with the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine. May all your days be filled with joy and sweetness. And may you pass your blessing along to everyone around you.

Related articles

• The Greatest Blessing

Believe God for Answered Prayer

Receiving answers to prayer requires some positioning on our part. It is an attitude adjustment to believe that, when we are in right standing with God, we can ask what we will and He will answer. But if we don’t actually  believe that He will answer, then we lose out on what is ours.

Think about the answer to your prayers coming down like rain. If you definitely know it’s going to rain, you can set out a rain barrel and collect it. If you don’t believe it’s going to rain, all that water will come down anyway, but will be wasted and lost. You will not even be aware that you missed it and get mad at God for not answering.

When we are right with God, He will answer. He promised that He would and God does not lie. We’re used to being lied to by the enemy, so God’s promises seem almost too good to be true. But His word is truth. Not only does He want to answer your prayers, He wants to bless you with more than you asked.

Decide now to believe Him. Set out your rain barrel and hold open your apron. Answers will come and you really don’t want to miss them.

Related articles

• Answer to prayer

Be specific in your prayers and you’ll get specific answers.

Suppose your teenager came to you and said that walking so far to school was really hard, especially having to carry books. What do you want?, you ask. Your child shrugs and says, All my friends are either driven to school or ride a bike or a car or a motorcycle. So what do you want?, you ask again. You see the need, but what specifically does he want?

We need to stop asking for general blessing. God wants us to get specific. Name the things that you want to see happen in your life. How will you know that God is moving for you if all you ask for are vague what-ever-is-your-will requests. If you ask God for that computer because it will do everything that you need, then ask for it.

We short change ourselves all the time by not being specific. Don’t be afraid to ask God what you need, and don’t be afraid to ask for what you want. Lift up your dreams and let Him know what it is about them that you love. He wants to delight you, so let Him know what’s really on your heart.

God is a God of blessing. Ask and it will be given to you, but don’t ask vaguely, or you’ll get a vague answer.

Another post on prayer: Learn To Wait With Expectation

Related articles

• Rejoicing in Answered Prayer