Finding Life Satisfaction Prayer
Are you wondering how to be happy and live a life of meaning? Does your life feel empty soon after you have gotten the latest “thing” you thought would make you feel satisfaction? Your prayer to God can change everything. This personal prayer for you is based on Bible verses that hold the secret to total life satisfaction.
Are you feeling satisfaction with what another year brings in your life?
You may be sitting in your apartment staring at a month’s worth of bills that you are not sure how to pay. You may be sitting at your computer in the nook next to the kitchen table where you and your family shared a meal just about 20 minutes ago, unable to tell your spouse that you don’t want to stay married. You may be sitting at Starbucks over the in the corner next to the window reading this on your mobile device, hoping that no one notices you…but wishing someone would. Wherever you are reading this you have been or are searching for “it”. What am I talking about? Feeling satisfied.
Admit it, being jazzed about Christmas and the “happy holidays” was what it took to shake off the doldrums of the onset of winter. A couple of Christmas parties and a Christmas program at the local community church helped to ease the downward spiral of life. Now…well, now it’s what another year brings…nothing that satisfies the longing and emptiness of life.
Would you be satisfied if you had it all?
100% of the people I could survey would complete the following sentence: “All I need to be happy in life is _____________.” What would you say? “A new car.” “A new pair of shoes.” “A new video game (for the gaming generation).” “A visit from my kids.” “Being able to visit my kids.” How about “more money”. (A possible #1 answer)
What if you had it all? What if you had more money than anyone else, the biggest elaborate house in the world, more food, more everything? One man did. King Solomon had more of everything than anyone else in the world. His wealth makes Bill Gates look blue collar. His house makes a Beverly Hills mansion look like an efficiency apartment. Here is what he had to say:
“All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.” (Ecclesiastes 1:8-10, NIV84, emphasis mine)
“I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” (Ecclesiastes 1:14, NIV84)
Why Pray to God?
What are you chasing that is meaningless? There is nothing, nor no one who will bring you the satisfaction that you are longing to latch onto in hopes of dispelling the emptiness of your life.
So why pray to God?
In a recent conversation someone implied that many forms of religion have the same goals. This was after I had pointed out that Christianity was different because of the change God makes in our lives. My counterpart argued that the same results could come from any religion. I disagreed and here’s why: The Bible says that if we are led by the Spirit of God this is what our lives will look like: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Ephesians 5:22-23, ESV)
Did you see that? Let’s back up so that you don’t miss it. “But the fruit of the Spirit…” Now do you see it?
Here is the difference between the relationship with God found in Christianity and every other religion in the world: You can’t do it. Because of the relationship you have with the sovereign God of this universe what can flow out of your life, by His Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. It is the Spirit of God living in you. You can’t do this on your own.
No other religion makes this claim. All of the other religions of this world say that you can accomplish it all on your own…and you and I both know that’s a complete lie. If it were true, you wouldn’t be reading this article because, I wouldn’t be writing it because of my experiences, and there would be no need for the self-help books found in every bookstore across the United States. You and I would have no need of praying to Jehovah God.
Love…Joy…Peace…Patience…Kindness…Goodness…Faithfulness…Gentleness…Self-Control…
Examine those words for a moment. Look at each one and spend a moment to dwell on the meaning of that word. Would your life, would my life have much more meaning if all of these things flowed out of us as a result of our relationship with Jesus Christ? Absolutely!
We expend so much energy working towards the stuff of earth that cannot satisfy that we spend little time with God. Our lives have things like envy, anger, jealousy, sadness, impatience, and greed flowing out of us. This is the result of us attempting to do things on our own.
Right here, right now, pray with me…not just on your own, but with me to ask God for His Spirit to be poured out in our lives that people may see the fruit that comes from a relationship with Him.
Life Satisfaction Prayer
“Father God, I’m sorry for attempting to fill up my life with the “stuff of earth”. Forgive me for trying to replace your good gifts with things that only satisfy for a moment. I ask for Your Spirit to dwell in every area of my life so that what flows out of me is the evidence of Your grace. Help me to be the example of Your mercy as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control flow from me to others because of the work of Your Spirit in my life. Help me to walk out of the darkness I have allowed into my life and walk into Your everlasting, marvelous light. In the name of Your son, Jesus, I pray. Amen.”
I leave you with these words of comfort:
“And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.” (1 John 3:23-24, HCSB)
Copyright David Shelton 2013. All rights reserved.
