Almost everyone that I know has had an occasion to pray to God for a particular need or want. Even theungodly or lost have rendered a prayer occasionally. Many people pray when bad things or problemsoccur in their lives. Lots of people pray for things they want. Countless people pray when they believethings in the world or the politics of the land need changing. People pray when they are worried aboutthings in life that they have no control of. I have a fellow pastor who sometimes jokes about the subjectof prayer. He says, “why pray when you can always worry.” Funny but true for some. This simplyillustrates that we tend to worry more than pray.
I also find that many of us have an ineffectual prayer life. We often pray for things that we don’t need.Some pray for things that they are envious of, that others possess.
James 4:33 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss , that ye may consumeit upon your lusts.
God has given us an avenue of communication with Him. We can use this circuit to share our concernsand desires with Him. We can use this “open line” to pray for others like family members, our nation’sleaders, church members (including church leaders), the state of our country, the impoverished and thehungry of our world, which are all good causes.
However, I find that most of us miss the mark when it comes to our prayer life with a Heavenly Father.A Father that only has our best interests at heart. God invented prayer so that we could share ourdeepest desires and concerns with Him.
Philippians 4:66 Be careful for nothing ; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgivinglet your requests be made known unto God.
Still there are those that pray in an attempt to change God’s mind on a particular matter. Rarely dopeople pray to have God change their mind on an issue.
There is another purpose God had for opening a channel of communication between Him and His creation. INTIMACY!
Romans 8:2626 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should prayfor as we ought : but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings whichcannot be uttered.
As a boy, it took me a while to know how my Dad was going to respond to a particular request. Myrequests became more effectual as I learned more and more about my Dad. As I spent more intimatetime with my Dad, I learned that he always had my best interests at heart. Our conversations becamemore and more effectual. I have totally forgotten the times he said “No,” but vividly remember thetimes we spent simply as father and son.
If we would approach our time with our Heavenly Father as a time of intimacy, as a time of just “hangingout” with each other, I wonder how much more our desires would become the same as His desires.Perhaps our prayers would be less centered on us and more focused on our relationship with Him.Perhaps our prayers would be “Life Changing.”
Ross Weibling
No comments:
Post a Comment