Stacie's…

I just finished reading Francis Chan’s book “Forgotten God” Wow… there was a lot of great stuff in there. I am still processing the book and praying through different things I read. However, there was a paragraph at the end of the book that really made me start to think, so I thought I would blog about it.

“When I live by my own power and strength, relying solely on my natural talents to see me through, then people naturally praise me for how I am living. But when I am living in a way that requires me to depend on the Holy Spirit, people respond by praising my Father in heaven.”

This really struck me. I know that there are times, probably more often than not, that I am just relying on my natural talent, which leads me to sometimes have a very shallow prayer life. Therefore, when I do something for the Lord I seek or even need the praise of people. I don’t want this for my life. I want to pray big prayers like Elijah where all the praise went to the Lord. When Elijah prayed, God sent fire from Heaven. Baal’s response was “The Lord… He is God, The Lord… He is God”

I want to pray big prayers, so when God answers them people will say how great God is not how good I am. This really has convicted me to be a more passionate, intentional, courageous, women of God in my prayer life. I don’t want, need, or deserve the praise. God deserves all the praise. I need to stop relying on my own talents and start asking God to do something so big that people know without a doubt it is Him!

Man… I need to go pray!