Christian Living

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We are all participants when it comes to prayer. Our petitions are in the form of supplications, intercession, and requests. If we are presumptuous enough, we “command” the Lord to fulfill the desires of our head, which we have mistaken for our heart. Many of our prayers have time restraints. Some people have an attitude that the Lord owes them something; after all, they are His children and He has a responsibility to supply all their needs (wants). Not to digress from the purpose of this article, but I have a hard time familiarizing God to a structure that I believe shows dishonor and disrespect. I have heard Believers call God their “Daddy” and Jesus their “Big Brother.” Even though the concept is correct, He is much greater than any carnal labeling we can give Him. Instead of bringing God down to our mental acceptance, let us learn to kneel in His presence with awe and respect, for He is “I AM.” Jesus is our Savior and Lord; let us approach Him in humble adoration, for He is the Alpha and Omega. To mentally humanize our relationship to the Triune God is to elevate ourselves to an almost equal status. What follows is a dictate of wants, versus seeking what He wants.

We must ask ourselves how we fit into God’s purpose and plan for our lives. When we realize what His objective is for us, we will better understand how to pray. When we fail to grasp this truth, we will begin to act like a god and want God to endorse our agenda. Wrong teaching has influenced wrong actions. We are not on this earth to determine our own direction, but to discover His direction for us. Our prayers should center on His will, not on our will. Know the Word and we will understand how to pray. God gives us the desires of our heart, because He puts the desire there! In the “Battle of Gethsemane” Jesus, as a man, realized that it was not a question of what He wanted, but what God wanted for Him. Jesus requested for another way than the cross, but He quickly overruled that petition with “…nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.” (Luke 22:42)

There are situations in life when we attempt to search for an escape clause or seek a road more traveled than the path we are on when, in reality, the Lord has us on that path for the fulfilling of His purpose. It comes down to do we trust God? James realized this truth by stressing the importance of knowing how to pray. “If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.” (James 4:15) Instead of seeking confirmation of our choices in life, let us desire what He desires. Instead of bribing God with shallow promises like: “If He will heal me, I will do this and that for Him.” Let us learn as Paul did, “…in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” (Philippians 4:11) Let God do His work in us as He leads us through the valleys and mountain tops, all with the objective of creating a person who will exhibit His Kingdom.

Zacharias and Elizabeth had prayed long and hard that they might have a child, but all seemed to be for naught. Finally, long after Elizabeth had passed her child bearing years, their prayers were finally answered. They would have a son that would be the forerunner of the Messiah. (Luke 1:11-17) If their prayer had been answered in their timing, they would have missed having a son whom Jesus would later declare as the greatest “Prophet” ever. (Luke 7:28) Don’t miss out on what God has for you by framing your prayers around what (and when) you want; rather, about what God wants for you!

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