Monoah and his wife were childless and the angel of the Lord told them that they would have a baby who would have a special calling. In their excitement this husband and wife could have just rejoiced, praised God, and started dreaming about all the things they would get to do as new parents. They could have missed the fact that God wanted to use this new life for a God glorifying, kingdom saving (and building) purpose.
I love that upon the news of a promised child Manoah's first response was to pray. He saw his inadequacies and he understood how God works through the lives of others and so he did not want to assume that the success of building this child up rested on his human shoulders. He prayed, he sought and ask the Lord to teach him how to be a father and to know how this little person needed to be raised in order to be all that God intended him to be.
The lessons I can learn as a parent from this are very obvious to me and something I need to seek every day. But for some reason God had this verse strike my heart deeply in a very different way. This is not just a prayer that I need to pray as a mother in knowing how to be there for my children, to raise them up. This is something God wants me to pray concerning all the people he puts in my life. I am a part of a great small group, I help work with the youth, I have neighbors I want to build relationships with, I have friendships, I have family members, I have people that God has put into my life for a reason and I need to be praying that God will help show me, teach me how to be there, for each of the them uniquely. What are their needs (as God sees them) and how can I build them up according to those needs (Ephesians 4:29)? What are the burdens of others and how can I be there to help carry those burdens with them (Galatians 6:2)? How do I live with others being like mined, with the same love and spirit, and with humility that allows me to value them and their interests above myself and my own (Philippians 2:2-4)? How do I bear with others (Romans 15:1)? How do I show kindness, a tender-heart and how do I forgive especially when I feel a right to my hurt, anger or pain (Ephesians 4:31-32)? How do I speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15)?
Teach me Lord, I beg you, to teach me how to be a friend that loves at all times (Proverbs 17:17), how to be a sister in Christ to every person I meet, to be a Godly example to my neighbors and friends, to be a Christ like role model for the youth, to live as a supportive daughter, sister, mother, wife, aunt to my family, and to be your hands, feet and voice that administers help and healing to all those you place in life.
Why do I need this to be my prayer? Because God has a compassionate heart, a gracious and merciful spirit, an unhindered love, and a gentle hand for his creation, for those he has placed in my life as well as for myself. He wants for others exactly what he wants for me. He knows and sees the heart of each of us and he is calling us to seek him so that we can learn to see others and be there for others the way he sees them and the way he is there for them. We are special to the Lord and he has a plan and purpose for each of us and like Manoah I want desperately, so very desperately to be a woman of God who is all I am able and need to be for the benefit of those around me. If the lord has placed people in my life I want to be humble and let the lord teach me how to be all that God desires me to be. And just as God faithfully answered Manoah I know that if I make this my daily prayer, my hearts cry, the Lord will be faithful to answer and empower me to be all he has called me to be and to do all he has called me to do.
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