A Prayer When You Cannot Carry It All - Your Daily Prayer - October 17
A Prayer for When You Cannot Carry It All
By Vivian Bricker
Bible Reading
“The one who gets wisdom loves life; the one who cherishes understanding will soon prosper” (Proverbs 19:8).
Listen or Read Below:
From a young age, my mom taught me the importance of being a lifelong learner. She taught me the necessity of asking questions, listening to others, and reading a variety of nonfiction and fiction books. This was due to my mom’s own upbringing. As a child, she had only four books: the dictionary, an English-to-French dictionary, a Spanish-to-English dictionary, and Grimms’ Fairy Tales.
These books challenged her to continue learning throughout her childhood. She didn't grow up with technology; therefore, when she needed to research something, she had to look it up in a dictionary. This helped my mom become a great speller; she understood complex words and became bilingual.
Learning was vital to my mom, and she instilled this teaching into me. It has made me someone eager to learn new things. While criticism can be challenging for anyone, I see it as an opportunity to grow as a lifelong learner. Life-long learners never believe they have reached the “end point” of their learning abilities. Rather, we continue to cultivate a heart and mind of learning throughout our lives.
Many of us struggle with believing that either one, we know everything, or two, we don't need to learn anything anymore. Either of these mentalities will result in a lack of learning. Rather than developing new skills, abilities, and wisdom, we will stay stagnant in our growth.
It is essential to practice lifelong learning, as it helps us connect better with God, others, and ourselves. We never need to believe the lie that we have everything figured out. Instead, we need to be open to the learning opportunities before us.
Granted, this learning might not take place in a classroom setting, but it will take place in our everyday lives. We can learn more about our profession at work, how to better navigate the roads on our daily commute, or how to communicate cross-culturally with a new neighbor from a different country. There are opportunities to learn every day, but we will miss them if we think we know everything or are too lazy to try to learn.
The Bible tells us, “The one who gets wisdom loves life; the one who cherishes understanding will soon prosper” (Proverbs 19:8). Fostering a heart that is focused on learning will equip us with a better life. Striving for knowledge ensures we will prosper, grow, and mature in our walk with the Lord.
Seeking wisdom is a good thing. It is better to be aware of the world's challenges, lessons, and problems than to be ignorant of them. God will help us to cultivate our knowledge by providing us with opportunities to grow. He will help us grow not only in our walk with Him but also in our relationships with others, in our schooling, and in our careers.
May we all echo the words of Paul, “For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:9-10).
God wants us to pray for knowledge, wisdom, and growth. He will bless our efforts and increase our knowledge through the work of the Holy Spirit. Our lives will be enriched in every way by the Lord Himself.
Let's Pray
“Dear God, please help me to increase my knowledge every day. I have fallen into a rut, making it difficult for me to learn anything new. Either I think I already know everything, or I am too unmotivated to learn anything new. Change this type of thinking within me. Help me to strive after knowledge and wisdom in all things. I cannot cultivate a lifelong learner mindset apart from You. I trust You to make this change in my life. Bless me with all wisdom and understanding to grow in You. Wisdom, truth, knowledge, and growth are in Your hands, God. Please give me opportunities to learn more and to cultivate growth. I praise You, God. In Your Son’s Name, I pray, Amen.”
Go Deeper: Why It's Hard to Receive God's Love and Rest in His Delight
Have you ever worried that you’ve disappointed God? Maybe you know intellectually that He loves you, yet past rejection, painful relationships or years of striving have made His delight difficult to experience. Bible teacher and Awaken Delight author Stephanie Rousselle shares how her own childhood wounds and performance-driven thinking created a disconnect between what she knew about God and what she could receive from Him.
Jennifer and Stephanie discuss the difference between knowing God loves us and living as if that truth is real. They explore why our failures don't surprise God, how confession can deepen rather than threaten our connection with Him, and how receiving His forgiveness and delight can free us from shame and exhausting spiritual striving. Discover how God can bring His truth into our wounded places and teach us, over time, to rest more securely in His love. If this episode helps you face fear with God's confidence, be sure to follow Faith Over Fear on Apple or Spotify so you get new episodes every week!
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