#66 – Pray Before You Ask

Welcome to season seven of Presently Engaged with Mandy Pallock. Here you will find short, friendly, Jesus-focused encouragement to live intentionally right where you are. In this episode, we will have a devotional thought source from life, and then we’ll end the podcast with a scripture reading. I’ll be reading from the English Standard Version of a passage, and this will give us the opportunity to center our minds on Jesus and our hearts on his word, because lives will change as we engage with God’s word.

Would you be willing to share this podcast with a friend or with someone that you’re mentoring? Listen in and then join me at presentlyengaged.com. I’m so grateful for your time and glad that you are here, because you, friend, are making a difference. Lines, hues, even in an era of two-day shipping, curbside pickup, and porch delivery, we still find ourselves waiting in the necessary line more often than we would like, don’t we?

Here’s one small change that you can make the next time you find yourself waiting in line. As you work toward the register, start praying for the cashier or the employee assisting people, rather than scrolling a feed or checking the news, pray. And as you make your way down the line, pray. Pray that God would prepare that person’s heart for a short conversation.

Pray that you would have spirit-inspired words for encouragement and strengthening and comfort, and pray that you would have a moment to ask, listen, and share. And if you’re looking for conversation starters, here are three great options. You can ask about their day. Like, what is the best thing that’s happened to you in the past 27 hours?

Or what are you most looking forward to in the next 48 hours? You can ask about their history. Here’s one of my favorites. Where did you go to high school?

You can pause for them to reply and then inquire, home of the fighting, and wait for them to reply with their school mascot and see if that keeps the conversation going. Or you could ask about their name. What does your name mean? So you could ask about their day.

You can ask about their history. Or third, ask something random. Do you dream in color or black and white? What’s the story of your tattoo there?

What is the most surprising thing that you have done lately? And if you have time, you can take it deeper. You can say, hey, I love to pray for people. Is there some specific way that I can pray for you?

You just might be surprised how simple questions asked with a prayerful heart can open conversation and start building relationships. The season we’re reading what I call the Apostle Paul’s Power Prayers. So join me in reading Ephesians 1 2 through 23. This is the word of the Lord.

Grace to you and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the beloved. In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven, and things on earth.

In him, we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him, who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed in him were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory. For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might, that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is the body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Amen. So by now you’ve probably heard that I’ve written a book, right? You’ve actually heard that. The question habit is all about building relationships with God and others one question at a time, because asking questions and listening well can take every relationship deeper.

So maybe you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, because life is really busy these days. Well, you friend are officially invited to our book club, where we’ll go through the book in four sessions via zoom. We’re going to work our way through the question habit, have amazing conversations and make application to your own life and your own relationships. This is a free book club and all you need is your own copy of the book.

We’re going to kick it off on Monday, September 23rd. So drop me an email at mandy at presentlyengaged.com to register. It won’t be the same without you.