When I ask people how I can pray for them, I get all kinds of responses. Some ask for prayer for heath concerns. Some ask me to pray for their families or jobs. Many ask for prayers on behalf of their unsaved family or friends. The requests are as varied as they are numerous.
But not for the last couple of months. There has been an unusual consistency in people’s prayer requests for a while now. I can sum up their requests in one word: clarity. They desperately want a clear picture of what God wants them to do for Him. They want to obey Him, but need to know what that means for them in their current situation. They long to clearly see His will for them rise up from the fog of life. They want to experience now what God promises for the future.
Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.
1 Corinthians 13:12 (NLT)
We all desire to see everything with perfect clarity.
Let me offer this suggestion to all of you that desire this. Don’t wait until the ‘big picture’ is crystal clear to you. Don’t stay still until you can see the finish line. Start by obeying Him in what is already clear to you. Prepare your life for the day when His still small voice rings loud and clear in your ear. Prepare your heart to receive the clear instruction He is preparing for you. Pray for rain, but don’t stop there…prepare your fields for that rain.
The day will then come when 1) you are adequately prepared; and 2) He is ready. On that day, He will reveal Himself to you with remarkable clarity. The fog will blow away and you will be left knowing EXACTLY what you should do for Him. Until then…
So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. 1 Peter 1:13-14 (NLT)
Immerse yourself in His Word. Think clearly. Pray often. Obey faithfully.
