Pray for direction

We make an infinite number of decisions in life.

Some are clear-cut.

Others…

not so much.

What do we do when we don’t know what to do?

When there’s no apparent right answer and no obvious wrong one?

When we just want what God wants, but we have no idea what that is?

First, we remind ourselves of the truth that God doesn’t want His will to be a mystery to us.

And then we draw near to Him in faith, asking Him to guide us.

No, He won’t write the answer in the sky or tattoo it on your forehead.

But when the time is right, He’ll open doors…after He closes a few first. He’ll bring conversations, information, and opportunities your way. He’ll nudge impressions on your heart that He confirms in other ways.

His methods are limitless, but one thing is sure:

He will guide you.

Here are ten prayers for God’s direction, straight from God Himself in the pages of the Bible. Will you join me in praying the Scriptures for God’s direction?

Prayers for God’s Direction

1.)Tell God that you trust Him with all your heart, and that you don’t want to rely on your own understanding. Commit to acknowledging Him in all your ways, and let Him know you’re trusting Him to make straight your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

2.)Claim God’s promise to instruct you, to teach you in the way you should go, and to counsel you with His eye upon you. (Psalm 32:8)

3.)Affirm to God that all your ways are pure in your own eyes, and that you have trouble seeing your own errors. Ask Him to “weigh your spirit” and examine your motives. (Proverbs 16:2)

4.)Echo Jesus’ words: “I seek not My own will but the will of Him who sent me.” Let God know that you just want what He wants, and ask Him to reveal that to you in His timing. (John 5:30)

5.)Repeat these words of the psalmist: “Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning; For I trust in You; Teach me the way in which I should walk; For to You I lift up my soul.”(Psalm 143:8)

6.)Let God know that you’re asking for guidance, seeking His will, and knocking on the door of heaven. Claim His promise to give to those who ask, reveal to those who seek, and open to those who knock. (Matthew 7:7-8)

7.)Ask God for a humble spirit, and remind Him of His promise to lead the humble in what is right, and to teach the humble his way. (Psalm 25:9)

8.)Pray these words from Psalms: “Make me know Your ways, O LORD; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; For You I wait all the day.” (Psalm 25:4-5)

9.)Praise God for being your rock and your fortress. Profess His promise to lead you and guide you for His name’s sake. (Psalm 31:3)

10.)Ask God to teach you His way, and commit to walking in His truth. Beg Him to give you an undivided heart to fear His name. (Psalm 86:11)

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by Rebeckah (Tampa, Fl.)

Dear Lord, thank you for all that you have blessed me with, especially safe travels while relocating to a new state without my family.

It’s been 2 months now, I pray for a job in beauty, health, fitness, and wellness that will allow me to utilize my gifts and talents you blessed me with to help others and give me the means to prosper to support myself and save for a vehicle.

I continue to have a spirit of Excellence while job searching, however I need to feel empowered by supporting myself and contributing to my child’s college expenses and make my mark in this world.
Thank you,

Amen.

Return to A Prayer for Hope

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Praying for direction for your life is something that can change your present and future.  Part of knowing the right direction to go is in having good discernment, or the ability to see the big picture.  Praying for discernment is the act of asking God to help you clarify the truth about your life.  Once you know the truth, acting on it can change your life.  Here are some of my ideas on praying for discernment.

1. Clarify the difference between direction and discernment.

I think that praying for discernment is a bit different than praying for direction.  When I think about praying for direction, I think that you’re asking God what course of action to take or you’re making a choice, or you’re trying to decide on going somewhere, answering a mission call, etc.

Discernment to me means is asking God to help clarify and sort things out in your life, whether it be getting to the root cause of your problems, or gaining spiritual insight into your situation, or seeing more clearly what’s going on in your relationships.  It’s more about finding the truth.  The Bible says, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”  John 8:32

2.  Ask God “Why?” about your life situations.

When we pray for direction, we ask “who, what, when, where, how?”  You ask God, “Who should I partner with?  What should I choose?  When should I do it?  Where should I go?  How should I go about doing it?”

In praying for discernment we ask “why?” Why am I feeling so angry right now over such a little thing?  Why isn’t my marriage working out?  Why do I keep making bad choices?  Why is my child rebelling?   Why do I feel so alone and fearful?  Why do I feel like I’m not getting anywhere when I pray?  Why do I keep putting off applying for a job?”

3.  Get in touch with your feelings that you’re missing something to alert you that you need to pray for discernment. .

Usually people that are enjoying the way things are going in their lives don’t think to pray for discernment.  By and large the people who usually pray for discernment are those who feel like their lives are out of whack, full of turmoil and heartache and conflict, not those who like things as they are.  If things don’t feel right in your life, take it as a sign that it’s time to pray for discernment.

It is a fairly brave and bold thing to pray for discernment.  Jesus describes it this way:

“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.  Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.  But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”  (John 3:19-21)

4.  Ask for the spiritual gift of discernment.

Discernment, especially spiritual discernment, is a very big deal.   First of all, it is necessary so we’ll know the difference between good and evil.  In this context, discernment is a quality that grows with an individual.  For instance, a child cannot discern the danger of a busy roadway like an adult can.

Jesus talks about discernment when he says that the religious leaders know how to interpret the color of the sky to determine the coming weather.  (Matthew 16:3) He contrasts this human ability of the Pharisees and Sadducees with their spiritual inability to discern who Jesus is.

Ezekiel 43:23 says about those who minister:  “They are to teach my people the difference between the holy and common and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.”

Ezekiel is talking about seeing the underlying spiritual qualities of things.  This verse doesn’t tell the leaders to make a clearly defined list of everything possible in the world and then rate it as good or evil.  Unfortunately, the Pharisees actually attempted to do this by writing rules about everything.  It didn’t work because there were too many rules to remember.

Instead this verse tells the spiritual leaders to teach people how to distinguish between things for themselves.  Is this sacred or selfish?  Good or bad?  God-serving or self-serving?  Healthy or dysfunctional?  Freeing or imprisoning?  True or false?  Helpful or hurtful?   Unifying or partisan?

5.  Pray for Wisdom

Solomon prays for wisdom and God says in 1 Kings 3:10-12  “The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this.  So God said to him, ‘Since you have asked for this and not  for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, 12 I will do what you have asked.  I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be.”

It actually pleases God greatly when we ask for discernment!  What makes it more interesting is that the things God lists that Solomon could have asked for are exactly the types of things we typically pray for: good things for this life – strong bodies, provisions and wealth, relief from enemies and troubles.  Perhaps there’s an ascending order to the worth of things we might pray for.  Perhaps on the lower rung are our prayers for provisions for this life.  This passage leads us to believe that God is pleased when we climb to a higher rung when we ask for something more useful in the Kingdom, like wisdom or discernment.

6.  Expect the answer to come.

God directly tells Solomon that his prayer will be granted.  This doesn’t happen often when we pray for things like getting a book published or getting into a certain college.

7.  Ask for a discerning heart.

God doesn’t say that he will give Solomon a wise and discerning mind but rather a wise and discerning heart.  Intellectual discernment might be more closely related to the ability and think, reason and grasp.  The discernment of the heart seems to operate in a different sphere – the more spiritual center of a person’s life purposes, desires, hopes and dreams.

8.  Use discernment to heal.

Discernment is more like a diagnostic tool than anything else.  In the Bible it mentions the naming of spirits, and I think that when we pray for discernment God helps us put a name to a truth about our lives so we can then proceed to deal with it.  Discernment is more like the uncovering of things we weren’t aware of at first glance, things we’d rather not become aware of, something like “Don’t ask, don’t tell.”

There is also another related Biblical facet to this that is listed as the spiritual gift of “discerning of spirits.”   I Cor. 12 lists the gifts of the Spirit in verse 10 “to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another the distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in tongues…”

Today as in New Testament times there are those who practice deliverance by naming the evil spirit being cast out.  For instance, an evangelist might pray that a spirit of fear or infirmity or alcoholism might leave a person.  Psychologists work in much the same way, uncovering the root causes of our emotional problems.

9.  Test out what you think you have discerned.

I John 4:1 goes a step further talking about spiritual discernment.  “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.  Vs. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.”

John tells us that we even need discernment in our own churches to sort out the true spirit of Christ from other things that look similar, but are rooted in other things such as materialism, self centered  individualism, political power plays, science and logic, sensationalism, voyeurism, judgmental tendencies, ego, jealousy, pride, greed and the like.

10.  Act on what you discern.

Discernment leads us onto a healing path.  If the answer to our prayer for discernment has uncovered a fault or problem, it leads us on the action-oriented path of repentance or confrontation of evil.  Once something bad has been named and uncovered, it has to be dealt with.  Now it’s time to pray for the strength and guidance to know what action we need to take!

Throughout the years I have had close relationships with people in need of help and support and I have made many mistakes by taking what people say at face value without realizing that people sometimes play games to keep from becoming vulnerable or being  hurt.  Many times our relationship only progressed after I was able to speak the truth in love about what I saw going on between us that wasn’t helpful.  Discernment is absolutely vital in all of our relationships and God’s direction is even more important in knowing what to do about what we do discern.

Discernment is tied to the Holy Spirit.  I Corinthians 2:10 says,

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.  For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him?  In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God…

Colossians 2:8  See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

Related articles

Scripture prayer for guidance: Show me your good way.

Prayer for God’s Strength one step at a time

Finding answers to prayer during long term problems

Copyright Karen Barber 2011.  All rights reserved.

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