Saying Less – Praying More

Saying less and praying more can be a powerful tool in navigating workplacerelationships.

Sometimes, in my professional career, an internal angst rises up in me.The source of agitation could be an organizational decision,the distributing of responsibility, or just plain personality conflicts.

Whatever the trigger point was, I, in the past, expended a lot of energy talking about it.

I talkedaboutit with my friends.

I talked about it with my husband.

Once,I even talked about it with my pastor.

With each retelling, the problem grewbiggerandbiggerandBIGGER, untilthe problem was so enormousthat even the smallestdisagreementseemed like a world war.

Has anything like that ever happened to you?

You see your manager speaking in hushed tones,andyour imagination whirs, wondering ifyou might be in trouble.

Paranoia?

Perhaps.

But, in today’s volatile economy with job loss so rampant,fear sets in.

Your heart flutters.

Your palms sweat.

Before youknow it you’veconvinced yourselfthatcatastrophe awaits.

Ridiculous right?

Especially so, when the whole thingturns out to be nothing.

This type of scenario has happenedto me more times than I care to share.

I have learned that, ifwe are not careful, our imagination and overactive mouths can turna small, and usually incorrect, presumptioninto an emotional minefield.

When that happens, the enemy of our souldoes the happy dance because that was what he wastrying to accomplish in us. That was the reason why he planted theseed of worry or fear or doubt in us to begin with.

I wonder if that’s the kind of presumptuous sins that thePsalmist was talking about in Psalm 19:13 that says:

“Keep back thy servant also frompresumptuoussins;let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright,and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.”

Maybe, we would be able to say less and pray more ifwe started praying that prayer more often.

“God, help me not to presume anything.Teach me to look to YOU, the authorand finisher of my faith. To rest in thecomfort that your promises are yea and Amenand that you will always watch over meand go before me in any and all of my life situations.”

I have learned from my own hard experiences that praying more and saying less brings muchmore peace, joy, and contentment in my life.

What about you?

How do you handle things when life’s presumptions comecrashing down on your imagination?

Again, the Holy Bible equips us withan appropriate response to the wildruminating we are sometimesprone to:

“Castingdownimaginations, and every high thing that exaltethitself against the knowledge of God, andbringing into captivity every thoughtto the obedience of Christ;”(2 Corinthians 10:5)

I particularly like the way The Message translationexplains the meaning of the above verse:

“The world is unprincipled.It’s dog-eat-dog out there!The world doesn’t fight fair.But we don’t live or fight our battles that way—never have and never will.The tools of our trade aren’t for marketing or manipulation,but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture.We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies,tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God,fitting every loose thought and emotion andimpulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ.Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the groundof every obstruction and buildinglives of obedience into maturity.”

What are your ‘go to’ scriptures whenlife’s imaginationsthreaten to dominate your mind?