Specificity leads to visibility. When we get specific with our prayers we give the invisible God an opportunity to become visible to us in a way he wouldn’t without our specific prayers. And when God becomes visible to the eyes of our hearts and minds, hope, peace, and so many other life giving realities increase.
One of the ways God often helps his children pray with greater confidence and specificity is by hearing about how other people prayed specifically and saw God work. To this end, I’d like to tell you about how God answered an employers work, prayer request about 5 or 6 years ago.
The employer found himself in a situation that many employers find themselves, with an employee that wasn’t a good fit. He was wrestling with how best to handle that situation. With the company being a small business, relationships were deeper. Deep relationships brought great joys, but the challenges were great too. He knew, for the sake of the business, he had to remove this person from their role. But how could the employer have this difficult professional conversation without ruining the personal friendship?
While there are certainly different approaches that someone can use in this kind of situation, this particular employer started praying that the employee would find another job on her own that she was excited about, and that it would happen within 30 days. He wrote the prayer down and prayed it daily, during his normal devotion time. About a week and a half later, the employee came to him and told him about a new opportunity that she would be taking!
The employer was so grateful that God answered his specific prayer in a way that helped him both professionally and personally. But even more importantly, when you hear him talk about what happened, you understand that the experience of God’s love and control was even greater than the specific answer. The day that his prayer was answered was a day he sensed the powerful, “I’m-working-at-your-work-too” presence of God. And as he walked in this awareness of God’s presence and power, it ignited more hope in his heart. God’s greatness was more recognized in his heart which caused the size of his other problems to decrease there too. He walked home in hope that day. That hope drove him to ask specifically for God to do more with other problems and plans on his heart.
I know what some of you are thinking. Maybe that employee would have moved on anyways? Perhaps. It’s possible God would have done that without the employer’s specific prayer. But that’s not what happened. The employer prayed specifically. And because he prayed specifically, he, in a very real sense, saw the invisible God at work. Specificity leads to visibility. Of course, God doesn’t always answer our prayers with a “yes,” but he always does what’s best. That’s why we offer our specific requests with childlike trust.
What specific problems and plans are on your heart and mind today that you can turn into specific prayers?
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