Praying with Anticipation in 2017

Several weeks ago I began asking the Lord to show me a direction for 2017.  I was surprised at what he showed me.

I would not say that 2016 was a great year. Sure, there were plenty of blessings and great things that happened. There were many times I could see the Lord at work.  But when I think back on the year as a whole, it was a struggle. Not because we had so many trials, but because I struggled.

I struggled with God.

I struggled with our current living situation.

I struggled with my business.

I struggled all of 2016 and I shouldn't have.

It was not a year of submission or surrender. It was a year of struggle.

So, when I asked the Lord for a word for 2017 and he said, "Pray with Anticipation", I was a bit surprised.

Pray? That is what you want me to do? Don't get me wrong, I know how important praying is. It just wasn't what I was expecting. I realized that most of my struggle last year was mostly because of my lack of true prayer.

True prayer is not..."God! Why? Why? Why?" which is what most of my prayers were.

True prayer is pausing, praising and then petitioning.

So, then I asked, "What do I pray?" and he gave me 12 verses to pray.

I have decided that I am praying these verses, one verse a week three times a day. At the end of the 12 weeks either I will just start all over with the same set of verses or He will give me a new set of verses.

Can I just tell you that I already see a huge difference in my spirit. I am not struggling. I am resting. I am full of His peace & joy. I am excited about this new year. I don't know why, except that God has placed within me an anticipation and it is energizing.

Will you join me? Will you pray with me these scriptures? Or maybe the Lord has different scriptures He wants you to pray.  I know that when we pray his words back to him, He is free to do remarkable things through us!

He is ready to do something new! Are you ready?