January 30

Scripture focus:
Please, God, no more yelling, no more trips to the woodshed. Treat me nice for a change; I'm so starved for affection. Can't you see I'm black-and-blue, beat up badly in bones and soul? God, how long will it take for you to let up? Break in, GOD, and break up this fight; if you love me at all, get me out of here. I'm no good to you dead, am I? I can't sing in your choir if I'm buried in some tomb! I'm tired of all this—so tired. My bed has been floating forty days and nights on the flood of my tears. My mattress is soaked, soggy with tears. The sockets of my eyes are black holes; nearly blind, I squint and grope. Get out of here, you Devil's crew: at last God has heard my sobs. My requests have all been granted, my prayers are answered. Cowards, my enemies disappear. Disgraced, they turn tail and run. Psalm 6

Someone once told me that the only way I can pray effectively is when I pray in accordance with God’s will. They used the following verse to support this instruction.

“This is the assurance that we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of him.” 1 John 5:14-15
Of course, this makes perfect sense.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I experience prayer as, well, less limiting than this instruction to only pray in accordance with God’s will. Frankly, if I’ve got to be sure that I’m praying “correctly,” I end up standing mute before the throne of grace. I am perfectly okay with God responding within the limits of his divine prevailing purposes and will. I know there’s a lot going on in the kingdom of God, and I’m not the point.

But as a parent, I don’t want my kids to only come to me conversation that they think will win my maternal stamp of approval. I don’t want my babies editing their stories in a foolish attempt to win my approval – they already have my heart. I want my kids to tell me the truth – even the messy stuff. Maybe I need to grow up more in order to change my view on this, but for now, I believe that God loves it when we talk to him. I don’t think he freaks out when we don’t quite get our story “straight.”

Tell God the truth as we understand it, and let’s see what happens. Maybe we’ll get a renewed view. Maybe God will grow our heart. Who knows what God will do?

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3 comments:

snowdawg said...

Interesting thought and direction about prayer. I dont know if God accepts disclaimers but I include in my prayers "Thy Will not mine be done" when petitioning or just speaking with Him.

Step 1 - I failed and no nuttin. Dont know how to live,think or have a relationship with God. Can't say I really knew what His expectations or hopes of me were. I asked Pete where to start and he suggested the Sermon on the Mount. So with that in mind I would like to offer up the Lords Prayer in Mat. sermon on the mount as the example. "Thy Kingdom come Thy will be done" as my current templete.

Peace to All.

Snow removal tip...went out today and use my leaf blower to blow this powder like snow off our cars. Was done in 10 minutes. Works on side walks and driveways too.

Hzjewl said...

I know that God's will is His Word but what if there's something I need to pray about, that's not in His Word? Does that mean:

a. I might as well not pray for it because I won't get it or

b. I pray for it out of obedience and still not get it or

c. I pray for it knowing that every good and perfect gift comes from above and it that includes letting me know what to wear today, then so be it.

I think I'll stick with c. and see what happens.

Anonymous said...

Your comment reminds me of a girl I once listened to in a counseling session. She told me about how she always shopped via prayer - she'd go into a store, and pray that God point her in the direction of what he wanted her to buy. She was very, very well dressed. At the time, I thought she was asking God to take responsibility for something that she was responsible for - getting herself dressed (and maybe using God as a fall guy for her very expensive tastes). But now that I have a bum shoulder, and some days it's hard to get myself into a shirt, I'm a lot less judgmental! t

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