The “hustle is real" for many of us. Our list of what we want to do and accomplish throughout the day is one that is always before us.
“Eat. Pray. Hustle.”
“Hustle and heart will set you apart.”
“The Dream is free but the hustle is sold seperately."
“Some days I’m humble, some days I struggle but every day I hustle.”
Hustle is the ambition to work hard to get to where you want to go. Our culture is resonating with this because of it’s entrepreneur spirit and it’s desire to make a difference. It’s a generation in motion to see it’s dreams become a reality.
God has a dream for you.
A dream that will become a reality. It will come to pass. But it won’t be because of what you think. Yes, your drive is a part of it. Yes, your hard work is part of it. Your ambition is a part of it. But here is major piece to your dream that is critical and it won’t come to pass without it…it’s the hustle of heaven.
When heaven hustles is when God moves to accomplish His plans for your life. And that hustle goes into effect the moment you pray. Check out what happened when Daniel prayed:
“Then behold a hand touched me and said to me… ‘from the first day you set your heart on understanding and on humbling yourself before your God your words were heard and I have come in response to your words. but the province of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princess came to help me…’” Daniel 10:10-13
God moves when you pray. Your words put heaven into action. Your prayer time becomes forward motion for the plans of heaven and your future.
This changes everything about your “quiet times" time with Jesus. Essentially they aren’t quiet times at all but heaven's gains traction to put your prayers into action. The moments where you are whispering your passions, disclosing your dreams, singing your future is when heaven is the battling the fiercest, pushing the farthest and moving the strongest.
Thoughts to give your prayer life some hustle:
Say yes to God and no to distractions
The simplicity of God keeping your spiritual life is an art. Ask God what is the one thing He wants you to do and simply do it. Your spiritual life get’s complicated when you’re focused on all the things you can’t do. That’s the beauty of hearing God’s voice for you. When you focus on what God want’s you to do and live a life of one obedient moment to the next, your life simplifies and remains fulfilling. I’m convinced a selfish and boring prayer life is a list of what you want God to do for you ... change it into an exciting singular prayer of "what can I do for You, God" and live a life of following Jesus and hearing His voice more clearly.
Don't let what you don't see discourage you
There's a layers you can't see. God makes that perfectly clear that the battle isn’t about what we see in the natural (Ephesians 6:12-18). There is a layer to our spiritual lives that we don’t see but that is absolutely there. The lack of activity I’m not seeing doesn't mean God’s not moving. Don't judge what’s happening spiritually in your life by what you see because it may not be accurate. Heaven was battling while Daniel was on his knees. Your quiet times can be God’s bloodiest in the heavens.
Also, just because it "feels right" to you doesn’t mean it’s the "right thing" to do. We don’t live by feelings. We live by faith. Faith is what we are hoping for even when we don’t see it (Hebrews 11:1,6). If we get our feelings to align with God’s will for us…that’s a bonus. But we are not guaranteed to always have our prayers backed up by emotion. Spiritual maturity is moving past feelings into a realm of belief that demands you to trust God in the midst of not seeing or feeling but trusting His Word…because His Word is enough, right?
Don't let your hustle compete with God’s
Your prayers cause your hustle to slow and heaven’s hustle to go. If you’re too busy to pray then simplify your life. The reality is your lack of prayer is hurting you. You just don’t realize it. God makes it clear that “you don’t have it because you haven’t asked for it” (James 4:2-3). So essentially, when you don’t pray things essentially don’t happen.
“I’m convinced a selfish and boring prayer life is a list of what you want God to do for you so change it into a singular prayer of “what can I do for You, God?” and live a life of following Jesus and hearing His voice more clearly.
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I have to say no to things so that I can have those moments with God that are reserved for Him and I. Jesus was determined to go to quiet places to pray and be alone so that the busyness of life and ministry didn’t crowd out the moments with God (Mark 1:35, Matthew 14:23, Luke 6:12).
One of my mentor’s and friends, Mark Batterson says this, “When you pray to God regularly, irregular things happen on a regular basis.” Develop the habit of setting time aside for God and watch what God does.
God's timing is better than you think so trust the process
Many people pull out of the process before it's done and you end up with a half-baked plan. What we fail to realize is God is moving people, places and things around and we don’t realize it. When Paul was discovering his plan for his life, heaven was hustling moving and placing Ananias in position to be the miracle Paul needed (Acts (;11-12)
“11 The Lord said, “Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now. 12 I have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying hands on him so he can see again.” (Acts 9:11-12) ”
When Paul couldn’t see or understand, God was listening to Paul’s prayers while listening and answering Ananias. You don’t know what God is doing behind the scenes but never forget that He hears you and is moving on your behalf…even when you can’t see. Our problem is we try to make it happen. We would be trying to peel the scales off ourselves and damaging our vision rather than waiting for the answer to come. Why 3 days and not 1 day. Who knows. God was working on Paul’s inward heart as much as his circumstances. The same goes for us too. Dude, just let God work. Your hustle to “get it done yourself” can complicate matters more than you think. God’s for you. He’ll do what is best. Just cam yourself.
The more you pray the more you notice
Praying to God about your family, kids, mission, vision, dreams, etc. cause your to be spiritually self aware of what God is doing around you. Prayer helps you read the room at your church, in the sermons, in the worship, when you’re reading Scripture, etc. God is using those moments to get your attention to show you He’s working but you can’t “read the room.” You are like the guy at a party I was at recently who wasn’t self aware enough to realize dropping the “I’m more of a Star Trek fan” in the middle of all of us talking about how great the new Star Wars movie is was not the right moment or the right place to assert your “trekkie side.” The more you pray the more you notice God moving around you.
Stay secure in His sovereignty
Just because your too busy to pray doesn’t mean God’s too weak to move. At the end of the day God is still God even when we don’t realize it. Paul was transformed into the greatest missionary for Jesus even though that was the farthest thing from Paul's mind and prayers. But God moved on God’s behalf to make it happen. Compare that to where God is clear that we don’t have His will for us because we aren’t seeking it. Don't stress but relax and live in the paradox. Trust God’s control over your life. Embrace the mystery and pray about everything so that when heaven hustles, you aren’t missing it.
How's your prayer hustle?