Prayers

This Was NOT What I Asked For

by Doug Laird 
12/13/19
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When we make our personal prayer requests known to God, what we often ask for is a change in the environment or a change in the person(s) with whom we share the existing circumstances.

Hostile, negative, unjust, dog eat dog environments that are dominated by selfish, ungrateful, uncaring, unforgiving, hateful, unscrupulous, controlling, verbally and physically abusive people is the daily domestic, professional, and social environment in which many people find themselves in, here in the devil's (Luke 4: 6) world.

For some, just to have a period of time pass in which nothing else goes wrong would be a much welcomed improvement in their circumstances. No wonder the prayer lives of such individuals are filled with pleas for relief.

In light of some of the needs that many of my fellow brothers and sisters of the faith have, many of my prayer requests seem relatively trivial. Many of us pray for what we think will make us or those close to us happy, whereas as others are praying for what they need to just survive.

Yet, I am assured and encouraged to know that God is interested in even the smallest details (Luke 12: 7) of my life.  If it matters to me, it matters to Him.

God does not get upset when we spill our guts or speak our minds while conversing with Him in prayer. Such communication is necessary if we are going to have an intimate, personal, relationship with the Lord.

Like a godly father here on Earth, God wants His children to respect Him, but not to live in fear of Him. Many English translations of Scripture use the word fear, when respect would have been a better choice.  Religion promotes fear; Christianity promotes respect.  It is not the fear of God that He desires.  It is the respect for God that fosters the type of relationship that God wants to have with His children.

God desires that His children come to Him in their search for answers.

God in His omniscience already knows of every thought we have ever had, are having, and ever will have. We are not telling him in our prayers anything that he doesn't already know!

Unlike with many people, we can speak to Him with the strictest sense of privacy and confidence.

Although many of the changes that we pray for may very well be on God's "To Do" list at some point in the future, little do we realize that the person that God may want to change first is the one that we face in the mirror. Some of the adversity we have to deal with has been sent or allowed to take place by God for this very purpose.

When the adversity has been sent or has been allowed by God, it will remain in place or even increase in intensity until the change that God desires has taken place.

No adversity, tragedy, or dilemma can come upon a child of God without having first passed through His sovereign hands. The sovereignty of God means that He has the right to rule and is the One in charge.

God has the power to intervene at any time and in any place, and will do so IF it is in line with His will and the plan that He has in mind for us.

God’s answers to our prayer requests are not always of matter of who “deserves” what. 

The Lord Jesus Christ prayed that if it be the Father’s will that the cup to be taken from Him (Luke 22: 42). Paul, while greatly contributing to the establishing of many of the earliest local assemblies prayed for relief (2Cor. 12: 8) from a tormenting (2Cor. 12: 7) condition.

God’s answer to these prayer requests was “No.”

Coming to terms with much of the adversity that God's permissive will allows is, by far, one of the most difficult hurdles that an advancing disciple will have to overcome along the road to spiritual maturity.

It’s easy to stick with the program as long as everything is going our way.  The test of our commitment comes into the picture when we are subjected to the inevitable and often undeserved persecution (2Tim. 3: 12) and suffering (1Peter2: 21) that is a part of the post salvation spiritual life of discipleship.

Whatever adversity God sends, withholds, or allows taking place comes with a divine purpose.

This purpose may be to discipline (Heb. 12: 5) us.

This purpose may be to move us forward along the road that leads to the next level of spiritual maturity.

This purpose may be to prepare us to minister to others who will face a spiritual crisis when they are called to go through the same type of adversity.

Many Christians pray on a regular basis by rote for God's will to be done here on Earth. But when God's direct or permissive will presents itself, many feel that God has let them down. An embittered and wounded soul may no longer care to have fellowship (2Cor. 13: 14) with a God that would send or allow such and such a thing to take place.

You can bet your bottom dollar that the devil will be right there to cash in on the situation (1Pet. 5: 8).

Could it be that what we were really praying for was for our will (not His) to be done?

In times of prosperity, Man often forgets about God and the things of God. 

Why do you think that the devil promotes prosperity (Luke 4: 6)? The prosperity of the wicked (Psalms 73) has been like pouring salt into the open wounds that the followers of God have received for doing things God’s way.  God has His response (Psalms 73:17/Mark 8: 36) concerning such prosperity.

It is usually adversity, and not prosperity, that increases the spiritual maturity in the life of the advancing disciple. It is in the adversity that he/she goes through that God prepares him/her to later minister to others who will face the same type of adversity. This is a part of God’s will being done here on Earth for which many Christians frequently pray.

Some of God’s greatest servants were formerly some of the greatest self-proclaimed sinners among us (1Tim. 1: 15).

While I am not promoting a “walk on the wild side” as a prerequisite to standing behind the pulpit, there is something to be said for having been “there” oneself that sets the stage for him/her to later best minister to others who are going through the same type of adversity.

One can choose to run away and/or make whatever changes he can engineer (apart from God) to temporarily secure relief from adversity. This is the natural and chosen response of many of God’s people they do not get what they asked for in prayer.

But know that until the change in us that God desires is accomplished first, the same type of adversarial circumstances are going to reappear. Not only will they reappear, but they are likely to bring along with them new problems that the temporary solution has brought into the picture.