The Prayerful Pursuit

By Sam McManus

Every single prayer can change your future.Do you ever find yourself asking, "Why am I still single?" Have you ever considered that your singleness now is an opportunity to prepare for your future? What would it look like for you to pursue your future through prayer?

Prayer during this season has the potential to radically tran

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sam McManus
• Release date: Apr 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781736403112

Sam McManus

Sam McManus is a current seminary student who is passionate about helping men pursue what matters most. As a single guy serving other single guys, Sam enjoys speaking to men's struggles through his podcast, blogs, and online course. After graduating with a business degree from Auburn University, he now lives in Louisville, Kentucky. Since his own season of singleness is allowing him to be more available to God, Sam is excited for the Lord to work through him in the time ahead.

Book preview

The Prayerful Pursuit

Copyright © 2021 by Sam McManus.

All rights reserved. This book is protected by copyright. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including as photocopies or scanned-in or other electronic copies, or utilized by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the copyright owner.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, represented by Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

ISBN 978-1-7364031-0-5

Edited by Sam Kelly.

Printed in the United States of America.

Cover Design by 100Covers.com

Interior Design by FormattedBooks.com

Contents

1. A Solid Foundation

2. Seeking Wisdom

3. A Friend of God

4. Practicing Hospitality

5. Finding Freedom

6. Loving Next Door

7. Facing Pride

8. Fear of the Lord

9. Overcoming Shame

10. Your Inner Circle

11. Life as a Single

12. Humility in Marriage

13. Spirit over Soul

14. Spirit over Body

15. Biblical Finances

16. Humanity Tested

17. Identity Tested

18. Loyalty Tested

19. Him First

20. A Generous Wife

21. Following God

22. My Identity

23. Pursuing Peace

24. A Graceful Life

25. Pursuing Wisdom

26. Seeking the Spirit

27. Hope in Trials

28. Healthy Anger

29. Parenting

30. Seeking Truth

31. God’s Blessing

32. Pursuit: When

33. Pursuit: Where

34. Pursuit: Who

35. Pursuit: How

36. Forgiveness

37. Making Peace

38. Loving Yourself to Love Her

39. Identity

40. Glory

41. Inner Circle

42. Family Unity

43. Future Generations

44. Discipleship

45. Encouragement

46. Discernment

47. Protection from Satan

48. Grace

49. God’s Love

50. Fatherhood

51. Seeking Truth

52. The Shield of Faith

53. Wisdom

54. Shame

55. God’s Approval

56. Spiritual Gifts

57. Generosity

58. Good Fruit

59. God’s Word

60. Community

61. Love that Lasts

62. Pursuit

63. Identity

64. Purpose

65. Thanksgiving

66. Discipline

67. Healing

68. Dependency

69. Unity

70. Gratitude

71. Joyful Sacrifice

72. Family Reconciliation

73. Search Me

74. Test and Know Me

75. Notice Offenses

Resources

Well, just pray about it. How many times have you heard that before in your life? I know I’ve heard that piece of advice at least a hundred times in the last few years. It’s what people often tell me when I’m faced with uncertainty about the future and I’m not sure what God may be up to in the current moment.

As a Christian growing up, I always knew prayer was an integral part in a personal walk with Christ, but to me it seemed like a duty I needed to get done each day. Pray before a meal. Pray before a road trip. Pray before a football game. The list goes on. For most of my life, prayer was something on the list I needed to check off before doing what I actually wanted to do.

It might be like that for you too. Maybe you pray because you were trained to growing up, but you don’t really see the point. Maybe you used to pray, but you’ve recently stopped. Or perhaps you pray frequently because you know it actually works.

Committing my life to Jesus is the best decision I have ever made, and one of my favorite parts about being in a relationship with Christ is how being with Jesus comes before doing for Jesus. If you know me, you know I am always moving, checking things off my list, and going from one place to the next. I am a doer, and my first instinct is to do. But even though getting things done may allow me to feel more productive, Jesus wants me to begin by being with him rather than by doing stuff for him. If I can get the being right, then the doing will fall into place. I am thankful for a God who does not evaluate me according to what I get done but rather by the fact that I am made new in my sonship through his Son, Jesus Christ.

So if being with God is the first priority in a relationship with Jesus, how do you actually live out that being instead of doing? Being with God might look slightly different for everyone, but there is one simple habit that you’ll observe in everyone who starts with being. By God’s grace, this habit allows you, over time, to become a holier version of yourself, and it allows you to meet the right people, allows the right doors to be opened and the right ones to be closed, and brings joy when you need it most. It has the potential to help you leave a godly legacy in your family and influence more people than you ever imagined you could.

Prayer is that habit. Being with God in prayer has the potential to lastingly and radically change your life and the lives of countless others through your influence.

I have written this prayer guide for single men who hope to spend their unmarried years pursuing what matters most. But whether you are a single guy right now or are anyone else in any other life season, being with God in sincere, honest, and vulnerable prayer will profoundly change your life. Whether you are working through your past, trying to figure out your present, or wanting to have a meaningful future, you can attain anything through prayer.

Let’s look into the reasons why prayer is important and how you can begin to pray radical prayers for the future.

1. You Are Commanded to Pray

It’s natural to question why we should pray to God when, after all, God is the one controlling the universe and not us. How can the prayers I am throwing up to God possibly have an impact on the way the future unfolds?

One of the first realities we must acknowledge concerning prayer is that in Scripture we are commanded to pray. Romans 12:12 tells us to be "joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer; and 1 Thessalonians tells us to rejoice always, pray continually, give