Prayer = Dependence

In general I am a very capable person. There are not many times I don't feel confident that I can handle the situation I'm presented with.  On a human level that can be a good thing, but it can get in the way of me seeking what it is that God wants me to do.

If I feel I can just do something, even if it appears to me to be a good thing for my ministry - should I just go for it? How do I tell if God actually wants this, or it's just me doing something I think would be good.  In my human capacity I think I've done some things that have really gone well but afterwards I've felt a bit deflated cause I've realised it may not have been the outcome God had wanted, and maybe the whole thing could probably have been done differently.

As part of this spiritual journey I've been on regarding prayer this year, this is one of the things God's helped me address the most. I am to be dependent on Him.  My abilities, and my confidence don't actually matter that much, and have to take a second place behind my dependency of Him to work through me.

Before anything I do now I stop and I pray.  Even if it's something I do every week, and I can do it without thinking... I still stop and I pray - not because I may particularly need God's help to do it, but because I want Him to be working beyond my abilities, and without Him involved whatever I am doing means nothing despite my abilities.

The quote by Francis Chan above has become a constant reminder to me that I only want to do what matters to God. Prayer is the way that I actively pursue that.