Are you in a tug of war with God?

It's easy to believe in prayer when you are young. You rely on your parents for everything, so you get in the habit of asking. As you get older and you have the ability to make decisions for yourself, asking becomes harder. It's far easier to figure things out on your own.

The thing is, God asks us to pray. Jesus, who was God... prayed. The Bible teaches us to pray.

A lot of times prayer seems like it's a tug of war with God where we want something and God just isn't giving us what we THINK we need. Maybe... it's because we're doing it wrong.

When Jesus taught His disciples to pray - the first  two sentences set the tone:

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed is your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:9-10.

The attitude of prayer is that God's will is done. A lot of times, the tug of war is because we want our will to be done.

In John 15:5 Jesus says: "I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."

That is a bold statement... apart from God, we cannot be fruitful.

I think a lot of times we think of fruitfulness in terms of earthly success - having a good job, house... the tangible things that we see. As Christians, we know that there is more to abundant life than that. Being fruitful changes the life of those around us. Being fruitful impacts our community. Being fruitful makes a difference in our lives and the lives around us.

Let's go into the weekend really seeking the will of God, and see what He does.