Make Your Problems—God’s Problems: The 100% Prayer

One of the greatest lessons God has been teaching me this year from the BE-Attitudes study is how to pray more effectively. For example, there are great benefits to praying, what I’ve began calling my “100% prayer,” which goes something like this:

“Lord, I give you 100% of my heart, 100% of my time, 100% of my resources, 100% of my law practice, I give you my family and all my desires – – take them and use them for YOUR glory! And Lord, since it ALL belongs to YOU—so, too, do 100% of my problems. I am ready to serve and will listen for You to show me what to do each hour of the day.” 

I have no idea why it took me so many years to learn to pray this powerful prayer. Now I am by no means promoting the use of ritualistic prayers; but I am a big fan of effective prayer. When we are dedicated to living in loving obedience to God, then WHAT we pray reflects our heart and it has a powerful effect on us. Most importantly, our prayers activate the miracles of God.

“The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.”

James‬ ‭5‬:‭16-‭18‬ ‭

Thus, we must not just PRAY important words but we must also MEAN them! We have previously discussed extensively the power of praying God’s Word, and the 100% prayer—which is also part of my prayer life. When we let go of everything we have and everything we are and give it over to God—what He gives us is far better than what we give up.

Read that again: When we let go of everything—what God gives us is far better than what we give up.

When our heart belongs to God, He takes our gifts and multiplies them far beyond what we could ever have imagined. He takes our resources and gives us opportunities we never dreamed we would have. It happens all the time to me and keeps me in a place of wonder and awe! It also happened all the time in the Bible. Consider the little boy who had five loaves and two fishes, and gave everything he had to Jesus. Jesus took it and fed more than five thousand people with it!

“There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?” Then Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.”

John 6:9-11

I kid you not, the more I give God, the more He multiplies it. My friend, I’m talking about real prosperity—the kind that lasts forever! Just this year, as I’ve given God my law practice, He has knocked down walls and built bridges like I’ve never seen. He has built a team of ladies that are born again believers and kindled a fire of ministry. We can barely keep up with all the opportunities God is sending us and it’s wonderful beyond measure!

Not only does God multiply the time and resources we have and do much more than we could ever accomplish without Him—but one of the miraculous blessings of giving everything to Christ is the experience we enjoy—when trouble arises. 

Because, my friends, trouble is gonna come! 

But if everything belongs to God, then the trouble is HIS too! For example, the other day in the office a big case blew up and went south. My first reaction has typically been to panic and try to figure out how to solve the problem; however, God is retraining my brain. He instantly reminded me that I had given my law practice to Him, and so I turned to my team and said. “Well, this law practice belongs to God, so the problem belongs to Him too.” I could say this with complete confidence because in my experience with God, I knew He would handle it. All I had to do was listen. I’m not in charge anymore—He is. I didn’t have to let HIS problem derail what I was doing for HIM at the moment, because He’s got this!

What a relief to avoid anxiety, fully focus on what God had me doing at the moment, and leave the future to Him. He’s already there. 

But my friend, the privilege of assigning all the burdens and troubles to God is only possible when everything belongs to Him. It’s such a blessing! Especially in the area of time—which I never seem to have enough of! So, when I know I don’t have enough time to complete everything, I pray “God, I know You know—show me what REALLY needs to be done.” He always honors this prayer—and even when I don’t get it quite right—He has a workaround. It’s quite remarkable! God does my life so much better than I do!

When I make Jesus my center, then I am constantly reminded of His promise:

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30

‬ When my life belongs to God, my problems also belong to Him. He carries the heaviest burdens. We stop trying to be Him and instead, we allow Him to be the biggest part of us. This allows us to work within His Divine power and give Him glory. 

“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

1 Corinthians‬ ‭6‬:‭19‬-‭20‬

‭‭Giving God everything gives us amazing peace and rest, victory, joy, satisfaction and a life worth living!