It is very easy to feel disappointed when prayers don't seem to “fix” a problem the way we want it to.
It is a normal human trait to feel hurt, lost, scared, even abandoned by God when we've prayed for a circumstance to change, and it does not. Even Jesus, at some point in his journey, prayed for his own circumstance to change (Luke 22:42).
In his heart, he too desired a "fix." Later, we see the pain and disappointment of this unanswered prayer expressed on the cross when he cries out to God with the very same question we all ask after disappointment:
"Why?"
"Why this outcome?"
"Why have you forsaken me?" Although we often long for and pray for certain circumstances to work in our favor, sometimes - as Jesus showed us - the story is much bigger than a single circumstance. And if the story is bigger than a single circumstance, then there will be times in our walk with the Lord where we pray for a fix, but heaven's response will be a shift.
When Jesus felt his lowest and most worried about his circumstance, he went straight to the Father. Although anxious, worried, and scared, he had enough faith knowing that even if God did not do exactly what he wanted, God would do exactly what he needed. What Jesus experienced in the Garden of Gethsemane was not a fix, but instead a shift.
A fix deals with the circumstance alone.
But a shift can change a heart.
A shift can awaken a Godly perspective.
A shift can birth a new thing from the very circumstance you desire to be fixed;
A shift can leave you empowered to keep living, keep moving, and fear no evil as you walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
A shift can disrupt demonic agendas.
A shift can do far more than we can see or ask or think. So, we must continue to pray without ceasing because although a prayer may not always fix,
it will always shift.
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