One Timothy Chaper 2 says, I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. In facing off with your own problems, which of course can see and feel to close to home to keep a perspective on that is positive or even accurate, you want to blend praying about your particular problems with also praying for people throughout the world with the same or quite similar problems. What this goes into, is your own contribution to the spiritual realms and helping others through the power of prayer. Prayer will bring positive results, as it says in this verse from Timothy of them being in the environment for quiet and peaceful lives which means something like smooth sailing rather than continuous storms. There is a call to prayer for the individual and also a call to the power of prayer and this prayer power is exercised by the wider view of praying for people, places and issues out there as well as right at home, so the prayer mix needs to include intercessions for others and a transposing of your own issues into prayers for others with nearby similar issues. So if you have trouble with say relationships, pray for people with relationship troubles, if you have a sprained ankle pray for anybody else with a sprained ankle and so on. For sure whatever you are going through, other people will share in similar struggles Secondly, give thanksgiving around the problem. Say you have trouble on the job front, give thanks for all your abilities, options, accumulated education and other attributes that can and will be exercised whether in this forum or another form. Don't just put a laser like focus on the particular problem without giving thanks for all the good things around the problem. There is probably a lot to be thankful for right in the arena of your problems, and this way you can begin to see more so the opportunity within the problem Thirdly, ask for added perspective on the problem within the prayer. Problems have a way of tightening their grip, and causing even more of a loss of perspective. Getting fired from a job can be perceived as a problem, getting rejected by a date can seem the same way, but that doesn't put you at the bottom of the totem pole, you may still have a good spot there at a higher rung that circumstances seem to be saying. 4th, maybe take a breather after praying a bit about the problem and more so see what comes back in terms of answers. There might be a panic zone aspect to the problem and you need to subside from that and refocus on the answer or answers which can maybe be coming from a different zone or mode than the problem itself. The form of the answer might not be fully identifiable with the form of the problem, it should be in the ball park maybe but maybe healing to left field where you are looking for a line drive to right field 5th, look at what you can do despite the problem, especially prayer wise. If you can't get through for yourself you still might be a powerful prayer warrior for others, and it might be following a lie that if you can't get this resolved, you might as well stop praying for others as you should not stop or withhold on your prayer fronts, rather they should be maintained even in relatively difficult times personally so keep the prayers going not only for yourself but for the outward front, being inclusive of all rather than just exclusive to your own issues.
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