How can you open your heart to receive unexpected blessings as answers to your prayers?

In addition to praying for personal needs, last year our church prayers focused on social justice issues, reducing the suicide rate in our country, decreasing crime rates, and spreading the Gospel to remote areas in neighboring countries. Some of these prayers resulted in unexpected blessings for the church. Here are a few examples...

Last year, the town of Tuzla recorded the highest suicide rate in our country. For some time, we felt a strong urge to pray and intercede for those at risk of suicide, praying they would find relief from depression. In response to our prayers for freedom and healing for those struggling with depression, a person who was once at risk of suicide has recently started attending our church services. With God's grace, she is battling depression by regularly participating in church activities. 

We also felt compelled to pray for the Roma population in our country to be freed from poverty. In response to our prayers, church was blessed to see two Roma teenagers becoming part of our youth group by the end of the year.

Furthermore, during our church's prayers for the Bosnian diaspora in the West, a native Bosnian woman in the Netherlands reached out to us. She wanted to know if her friend from North Bosnia, who had recently accepted Christ as his personal savior, could visit our church. Eventually, this individual was baptized, relocated to Tuzla, and became a regular attendee of our church services. 

Last year, we also prayed for the gospel of Christ to reach the Croatian islands. In response, the Lord gave us an unexpected blessing: the Holy Spirit guided three women from the Filipino islands to become part of our church. These women, married to Bosnians, regularly attend our English church services with their children. 

The shared element in all answered prayers was our church's pursuit of the Holy Spirit's guidance on how and what to pray for specifically. By faithfully praying according to the Holy Spirit's timely direction, our church experienced unforeseen blessings in response to our prayers, which were not focused on ourselves. We received blessings we hadn't specifically prayed for. 

You can also ask the Holy Spirit daily for guidance on what to pray for and how to pray. Through this process, you might receive unexpected blessings in response to your prayers. 

Let me pray for you: 

Father, I pray for grace for a reader of this blog post to hear the Holy Spirit's voice more clearly. I also request grace to embrace a purging process and a willing heart that learns to pray under the Holy Spirit's guidance. In Jesus' name, I pray. 

I have received full payment and have more than enough. I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:18-19