Hungry & Humble: Why praying for blessings can be scary.
Have you ever been afraid to ask God for what is really on your heart? Maybe the blessing you are hoping for is a job promotion or a restored relationship. Maybe you feel like you can’t ask, because what’s on your heart is too big of an ask.
Are you fearful of what will happen if you get your answer, and God gives you the blessing? Are you afraid to ask because you aren’t sure you trust yourself to be responsible with the blessing?
I admit, blessings received from God can sometimes be hard to accept. There are three negative feelings and thought patterns that can run through my mind if I’m not careful when praying for specific blessings.
- The feeling of being unworthy of the gift, unworthy of the love.
- The feeling of inadequateness because I’m unable to repay God for what He’s giving.
- The feeling of fear of being incapable of handling the responsibility of the blessing.
I believe these negative thoughts are from the enemy – who wants to keep me playing it small, stuck in the feelings of unworthy, inadequate and incapable.
But we are told in Matthew 7:11, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”
And Psalm 34:10 says, “But they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing.”
The Lord wants to give us good things. Do you believe that? God wants abundance and blessings for your life – here and now. Not just in eternity!
When we get over that hurdle of understanding that God wants good things for us, therefore it certainly is okay to ask for blessings, there is yet another reason why praying for blessings may seem scary.
What happens when we receive what we prayed for?
In the event that it’s a promotion, or an open door, a very real temptation exists to ignore where the blessing came from. We may be tempted to pat ourselves on the back and to give glory to our ability and talents, instead to its rightful owner, Father God.
Mark Batterson, in his book, Circle Maker, writes about drawing circles around big prayers – areas of life that need breakthrough, that are the audacious dreams in our hearts. Praying for them means we are believing they will actually happen.
Then what? What if these audacious dreams unfold in our lives. Will we be able to handle the blessing?
The short answer is, NO.
On our own, left to our own volition, we will not be able to receive the blessing well, without it making us crumble- impacting our relationships, stress, health, etc. But left in God’s hands, absolutely we can handle it.
God does give us more than we can handle. Whoever said He doesn’t, well they just hadn’t experienced the harsh realities of this life yet, or they are living in denial.
God gives us more than we can handle to help us recognize our need for Him. “More than we can handle” keeps us humble.
One of my favorite quotes from Batterson’s book, Circle Maker is:
“Stay Humble. Stay Hungry.”
Praying for blessings becomes a lesson in humility. And it becomes a lesson in hungering after the heart of God. When we get to experience the blessing of answered prayers, staying humble and hungry will help to keep the blessing from going to our heads.
We don’t need to be fearful when praying for blessings. I do not believe God will answer a prayer of blessing that we are not ready to receive. We can pray that God will prepare our hearts and minds to handle the blessings in a way that will give him the glory that He deserves.
Lord, you know the desires of our hearts. You know the desires we have specifically for blessings from you. Father, will you meet each of us in our deepest prayer, and our greatest blessing. Abba prune away any beliefs we may have that tell us we are not worthy of your blessings, that we are incapable of handling your blessings or that we are inadequate because we cannot repay you. Help us to approach your throne with a renewed understanding of how much it delights you to give good gifts to your sons and daughters.
God, I pray for each one that we are protected from the temptation to glorify self when the blessings are received. Father, keep us humble and hungry for more of you, giving you all glory for every good gift and blessing in our lives. May we never be fearful to come to you exposing our deepest desires and longings for our lives.
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