Pray for Anything and Everything
If we start praying for more things throughout the day, it could help increase our attentiveness to God.
Is anything too small or seemingly too silly to pray for? I sometimes mistakenly think that I should only pray for the major things in life. Things like a final exam or a medical appointment or a job interview or a big project. There are countless small things that seem silly to me to pray about such as driving to the store that's just 5 minutes away or for the weather to clear up or to find milk at the grocery or to write this blog entry. I mistakenly think that these things are too small or too silly to bring up to the attention of God Almighty. "God must have more important things to deal with," I imagine to myself.
Of course, there is no such thing as a prayer request that's too small or silly. God invites us to pray about anything and everything in life. In Paul's letter to the Philippians, he wrote this encouragement: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God" (Phil. 4:6 ESV). We are able to bring up anything and everything to God in prayer. No request is too small or seemingly too silly for our God.
Bringing up anything and everything to God in prayer is a good way to become more aware of God's presence in our everyday lives. God is with us all the time. We just might not notice it. If we start praying for more things throughout the day, it could help increase our attentiveness to God in our lives. Perhaps that's why Paul encouraged the believers in Thessalonica to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:17 ESV). Praying about all the big and small things in our lives is a simple way to learn to pray without ceasing. In fact, with small things, we can easily "pray on the go"—whatever we see or notice or whatever comes to mind, we can lift up a short prayer to God about it. As we do this, we might see our personal awareness of the presence of God scale to new heights. Let's attempt to pray to the true and living God about anything and everything and see where it goes.
Barnabas the Monastic
Servant of Christ. Husband. Dad. Modern Monastic. I have a wild ambition in life: get as close to the Lord Jesus Christ as I can while on earth. I explore and integrate ancient Christian monk wisdom in modern everyday life. Lives in Canada.
