Students praying in Ivory Coast

I enjoyed these recent thoughts from Steve Douglass, the president of Cru. His words sparked a thought leading to a question which developed into a moment of conviction – do I tend to pray about problems on the front end, or only after exhausting other options? Here’s Steve’s thoughts on the subject:

In the early 1970s I was given responsibility to manage the finances of the ministry. Up until that point I was somewhat aware that we faced financial challenges from time to time. Not many days had passed in my new assignment before I realized that we were up against a rather serious financial challenge. We had sponsored two very large training conferences and were aggressively seeking to follow them up. But we didn’t really have the money to do that.

As I briefed Bill Bright on our situation, he didn’t have any great financial ideas to fix our problem. Instead he said that God had taken care of us to this point, and he didn’t think He intended to stop taking care of us now. Bill bowed his head and invited me to pray with him that God would solve the problem.

Well, God did take care of us, and within a year we had paid back the sizable debt we owed as a result of our training conferences. God used that to teach me a huge lesson. Although I needed to do whatever I could to help solve a problem, the most important thing for me to do was to pray and trust God for the solution. I will never forget that lesson.

Since that time, I have had many opportunities to trust God — not just for financial problems. And I have learned that my first step needs to be to pray, and then to keep praying as different details arise.

What does the Bible say about this? A lot, but let me focus on one verse … Philippians 4:6: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (NIV).

The word “everything” is comprehensive, isn’t it? What “thing” that we face is excluded? Nothing! So, if the ministry owed a bank a lot of money in the early 1970s, Bill Bright knew that was a “thing” to pray for, presenting his request to God. If relational problems arise — and sad to say, they do — they are “things” to pray for, rather than to be anxious about. If a challenge arises in trying to raise a child properly, that also is a “thing” to thank God for and to petition Him for His supernatural solution.

Praying is an important part of what it means to walk with God in faith. We all know it. Yet somehow as our day unfolds, we seem able to forget about it. So I find it is good to have a simple habit. Throughout the day I ask, “Have I prayed about this?”

If I haven’t, but am carrying on in my own wisdom and strength, I stop to pray and ask God to intervene with His supernatural wisdom and power. “Have I prayed about this?” is a very simple question. But its impact is profound.

Why don’t you try it? Put up some kind of reminder where you can see it throughout the day. Whenever you see the reminder, ask yourself about whatever you are doing, “Have I prayed about this?” I hope that asking “have I prayed about this?” will be as life changing for you as it has been for me.

This is a great reminder for us all. “Have I prayed about this?” makes for a strong habit to form as we live out our faith in the world.