It has taken me a while to learn that being dependent on God for ALL things is a GOOD thing.  There are several fundamental truths about being dependent on God that are important to your walk.  It represents your admission that you need God every day.  That trying to get through each day on your own often ends up in disaster.  It takes trust to allow God to be God in your life to handle the ordinary and the extraordinary. 

You have to be willing to surrender your cares, troubles, worries, problems and your will over to the One who has ALL the answers.  What is amazing is that Father God wants to be involved in your daily life.  That still blows me away.  The creator of heaven and earth wants to bless me every day!

Recently I have learned that there is a difference in taking your cares to the Lord and panicking when you go to Him about them.  I had found myself faced with some troubling issues that I needed God’s help with.  What I found was that in my distress my prayers had turned in to cries of panic, confusion and fear.  Where was my faith?

After hearing myself pray out loud the same old prayer I noticed that it seemed as though God wasn’t listening.  Who could blame Him?  For my prayers lacked a very important key component, faith.  My prayers were that of someone who sounded more like a victim than a victor.  I heard myself repeatedly say “help me”, “forgive me” and “I’m sorry”.  That was not what God wanted to hear me say.

God told me that I needed to stop using those words and instead to start thanking Him, praising Him and blessing Him for answering those prayers, “speak those things that are not as if they were”!  That is where my faith was put into action and where victory is found!  It changed my attitude, my outlook and my spirit.  Hearing myself speak praises and blessings with a heart of thanksgiving brought peace to my soul and joy to my spirit!

It’s like praying in a totally new way that changed everything.  You ask God to answer your prayers as you present your petitions to Him.  Afterward you go right into praise , worship and thanking Him for answering those prayers.  Declaring out loud victory through praise and blessings for answered prayer before you see the end results.  Now that is mind blowing.  That WILL bolster your faith!

By praising God in your prayers is to invite God to join you in your prayers.  Psalms 22:3 “But you are holy, you Lord who inhabits the praises of your people!”

From the time that God told me to start thanking and praising Him through all of the next day my prayers were praise sessions.  Acknowledging His mighty hand at work in my life.  My expectation of God answering my prayers went through the roof!  It is in that time of expectation that my faith said “my answered prayers are upon me”.  All doubt and fear is gone as praise and worship flowed from my mouth.  What a powerful way to pray as you watch God answer your prayers/praise right before your eyes!