All my life, I’ve heard about the importance of praying when we must make a major decision. But what about small decisions? Just how should we pray and recognize God’s responses to our decisions?
A family member or friend goes into the hospital, and we pray. We lose our job, or our marriage is in trouble, and we pray. But most Christians feel many of the everyday situations of life are not important enough to take to God in prayer. Life is made up of the little things. Although we measure time in years, we have to go through 365 days — and all the hours, minutes and everyday decisions that make up those days—before another year passes. Zechariah 4:10 warns us not to despise “the day of small things.” Our lives are the sum of the many small choices we make each day.
That means it is important to follow the Apostle Paul’s instructions in Philippians 4 to pray about everything so that we will not be anxious and worried about anything. Or as my godly grandmother used to say, “If it is big enough to worry about, it is big enough to pray about,” and then she would usually add: “Little drops of water, little grains of sand, make the mighty ocean and the mountain stand.”
A great life is built by each right decision we make. Our problem often is we don’t know which decision is the right one. But God knows, and God wants to guide us to take the right action. Prayer invites God and his wisdom and guidance into our lives.
How does God answer?
Sometimes, God gives a sense of peace that we are on the right track. At other times, the Holy Spirit leads us to a passage from the Bible to guide us. A Christian friend might offer some good advice at God’s leading. Occasionally, God even gives us a sign or performs a miracle. But God always answers those who pray in faith through Jesus Christ, even though the answer may sometimes be “No” or “Not yet.”
But the real reason we should pray is not to get the right answer to our problems, or to get some thing or some blessing from God. Prayer is about building a relationship with our Creator and Savior in which we learn to speak and to listen. Our relationship with God is very much like our relationships with our friends or our spouse. If the only time we talk to them is when we need something, it will be a very strained relationship.
Hearing God’s voice and knowing what we should do is the result of a well-developed relationship with God. Relationship matters. God is not a cosmic vending machine. He is a loving Father, and his children learn to hear his voice. It is out of that relationship of love that we are to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) about everything big and small.
Alan Stanford is pastor of Leesburg Community Church in Leesburg, Va. Right or Wrong? is sponsored by the T.B. Maston Chair of Christian Ethics at Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon School of Theology. Contributors include Baptists in Virginia, Texas, Missouri and other states. Send your questions about how to apply your faith to btillman@hsutx.edu.