PRAISE & PRAYER PROMPT ••• My to-do list is insane at the moment. I’m making progress with it, but the last few weeks and the next two are crazy.
I’m sure you can relate. Most of us have a tendency to set really long to-do lists for ourselves. If I’m describing you, just know you’re not alone. Our support group meets on Tuesdays. (Just kidding…we don’t have time.)
For the most part, I am okay with my to-do list. I love to be busy. But then I get into a season where everything needs to be done at once. That’s when I wonder—why do I do this over and over again? I tell myself that I’m going to do better, but those are the moments when my to-do list flips things around. Instead of me being in charge of it, the list is suddenly in charge of me.
Sound familiar? Feeling overwhelmed is like an epidemic in our culture!
Enter prayer. My prayer journal has plenty of examples of times I’ve prayed for help over the years: “Jesus, please equip me!” “I need Your strength today otherwise I won’t get this done!” or “Lord, please help me to balance all of this.”
In Ephesians 6, the popular passage of taking on the Armor of God is found in verses 11-18. But I want to focus on verse 10. It says, “Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength” (CSB).
While Paul was setting the stage to describe the tools for spiritual warfare, this short little verse is also a great reminder for us when we need to be strengthened against our own internal battles of balancing faith, family, work, life, rest, and a mile-long to-do list. Because let’s face it—while spiritual battles are very, very real, so are internal/personal struggles. So are the feelings that we must check those boxes lest we let anyone down. We all have those moments and feelings. And we cannot fight them without God.
So the question today is this—can you relinquish the feelings of being overwhelmed by your to-do list? Can you trust God to help you manage it? Strengthen you to conquer it? Dare I even say it—equip you to say no to some of it?
I know, I know… it’s a to-do list. It’s not life or death. There’s the temptation to say, “God has bigger problems to fix… I’ll figure this out.” But that’s not really Biblical. Jesus said that even the hairs on our head are numbered (Luke 12:7). If God is so personally invested in us to know that kind of insignificant detail, we can approach Him with a to-do list and ask for His help.
And it’s not a bad idea to add to that list: “Pray for God’s help.” Just be sure you never, ever check that one off.
Today, as you pray, thank God for caring about the details of our lives. Thank Him for giving us His strength when we need it. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you when you feel overwhelmed. Ask Him to equip you and strengthen you in all you need to do today.
