Learning How to Pray Effectively in 59 Seconds or Less (Part 18)

As a new  Christian in mid-1985, I felt the Lord had called me to write and start a large publishing company. This made sense to me at the time because I was the president of a farm publishing company. I was thirty-nine years old, full of energy, zeal, and strength. Whatever obstacles might have faced me, I was ready and willing to plow over them.  In the name of Jesus…of course.

Now, it’s twenty-nine years later.

Most men my age are enjoying their twilight years by traveling or fishing or playing golf, but I still get up each morning a couple of hours before sunrise to seek Him. I still pray some of the same prayers that I have prayed for twenty-nine years: “Lord, I thank You and praise You for the publishing company that touches the nations of the earth in Your name and for Your glory.”

How many books have I successfully published so far? None.

And to be honest, being a successful author and publisher is no longer the driving force within me that it was fifteen or twenty years ago. I have long since laid every book and every writing idea on His altar. If He wants me to give all of them away or to delete them, I will instantly obey without argument or complaint.

My desire is to know Him. Everything else seems insignificant compared to that.

Would I consider myself a failure if the words about being an author or a publisher did not come to pass in my life? No, not in the least. You see, it’s not up to me to make His words come to pass. It’s up to Him and His strength to make it happen.

So, if you think this sounds weak on my part, you are absolutely correct because I am weak.

And my weakness of ambition before Him allows His grace to work in me so that the power of Christ may rest upon me when I pray.

(Continued in Part 18)