All Things Work Together

I have always had a hard time of praying. I grew up in Church, I was basically born into ministry. My dad is a preacher, both my grandfathers are/were preachers, my great grandfather was a preacher, my uncle is in ministry, and my brother is in ministry. Not counting myself, seven of my family members attended Cincinnati Christian University. Despite all of that ‘genetic ministry ability’ if you want to call it that, I have a really hard time praying. If you know me, you know that I can talk. And I can talk a lot. But when it comes to praying out loud or in front of people, I get a little nervous and I get a little shy. It feels awkward for me, and I have a hard time of knowing what to say. Even sitting down and writing these devotions, I feel as though I’ve had a pretty easy time of writing out the devotions or even knowing where I wanted to go with them, but when it comes to writing down the prayers it becomes a challenge for me.

The beauty of this difficulty with praying is that I don’t actually have to be good at it. I know that maybe sounds counterintuitive, but I’m not trying to impress anyone, I’m not trying to look like I’ve got it all together in front of people, and God knows that I’m a mess and that it’s hard for me to pray. I absolutely love verse 26 here because it lets me know that it’s okay because I don’t know how to pray like I “should”. But what follows is so encouraging, because it says that God will work things together for the good of his purposes. I don’t always feel confident in my abilities, but I know that God is working things out in his time in his ways, and that even if I don’t do a great job, or if I feel like I’m failing, God can still work things together in spite of my mistakes.

We can also have confidence knowing that God is doing what we need even when we are afraid. As we have been called into his Kingdom, we can have confidence knowing that God will work all things together for the good of His Church. God is going to take care of the Church no matter what happens to us. We may have struggles, and we may be afraid, but God’s Church can’t be stopped.

“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.  Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.'"
-Matthew 6:9-13