Dare to give up.

"Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give me my stuff.

(Ya know, that full ride to college, a car that actually has a nice paint color. Oh yeah, and let me get at least a 2,000 on this SAT that I haven't studied for. And maybe, could you make my sister stop annoying me...PLEASE??)

And forgive us our debts, just as we forgive our debtors.

For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

How often do we find ourselves praying to God and

a) Sprinting through the "thank-you's, your-will-be-done's, you're-awesome's, and bless-those-and-them's. But specifically noting each and every request that you have.

b) Praying to God, not having a two-way conversation.

Sadly, I have found myself doing both of those things quite often. What makes us humans believe that we are the center of the universe, rather than the God who created it? We think that if we don't have our futures planned out, we will be hoboes living on the street. We believe that we need to ask God for everything that we think that we need in this life when in fact we really aren't supposed to be living at all for this life, but the next! What makes us humans think that we are in control of our lives when we could walk out on the street and one instant later be dead?

I believe that there is a fact that all followers of Christ must accept before even thinking about asking God for anything.

God is in complete control of everything.

We are not in control of anything.

Until we can learn to trust God with the little things in life, there is no way that we are going to give him the reigns in the large things in life. *Disclaimer: What might be small to us might be huge to God, because His mind is far above ours.

I received a challenge a couple of weeks ago from a brother of mine. He challenged me to go for an entire week without asking God for a single thing. Nothing. At all. Period. At first, I doubted that I could do it. A week was such a long time to go without asking God for anything. Really?? So I took the challenge. And it was indeed a challenge. The first day of it I started to realize how much flippant prayers I send up to God. Yes, I ask God to bless people, but I realized how much I ask him to bless ME. Memememe. I had been asking God to do his will in my life while tagging on suggestions (or orders) of what I want "His" will to be.

Throughout the week of not asking God anything, I realized several other things. One being that God really is in complete control! I have gotten in a habit of asking God to bless the meal to the nuritement of my body, to ask him for a good day at work, for safe travels, and for help on my school work. When going for a week without asking those things, I realized that hmm...maybe..just maybe...God IS in control and he already knows whats going to happen with the food, the day at work, the traveling, and the school work. Maybe?? He knows whats going to happen in the future and how it affects his view of how my puzzle of a life will be fits together?

Eventually those petition prayers turned into prayers of thankfullness. When I felt like praying for a good day at work, instead I thanked him that he had allowed me to find a job. When I was frustrated with someone, instead of praying that he would calm me down, I thanked him for giving me opportunites to be patient. When praying for the food (why do we do that anyway??) instead I thanked him for giving our family food. Which led me to think about countries that have no food, which lead me to thank God for the work that he was doing in those countries without me (because he is in complete control of the world and doesn't need me.)

While realizing that God is in complete control and learning to thank him more often, I think that the biggest lesson that I gleened from this experience was finally realizing in my heart and not just in my head that God loved me and wants to use me, even though he doesn't need me. He could have chosen anyone in this world to use to change it. But He chose us. We don't have to "ask" him for anything. He is going to use us whether we like it or not.

So what is my challenge to you? The same that was given to me. Just tell God that you want his heart. That you wnat to see the world through his eyes. And then not ask him for anything for one week. It's only seven days, but it can change your entire relationship with God. By giving up on the little things in life, we can be used for a much greater purpose that is beyond ourselves.