Thursday, May 26, 2016

Prayer 101 - Our Father is Not A Heavenly Waiter - He Is The Sovereign God

My Utmost For His Highest
 
Pray without ceasing… —1 Thessalonians 5:17
 
“Our thinking about prayer, whether right or wrong, is based on our own mental conception of it. The correct concept is to think of prayer as the breath in our lungs and the blood from our hearts. Our blood flows and our breathing continues “without ceasing”; we are not even conscious of it, but it never stops […] Prayer is not an exercise, it is the life of the saint. […]  Jesus never mentioned unanswered prayer. He had the unlimited certainty of knowing that prayer is always answered. Do we have through the Spirit of God that inexpressible certainty that Jesus had about prayer, or do we think of the times when it seemed that God did not answer our prayer? Jesus said, “…everyone who asks receives…” (Matthew 7:8). Yet we say, “But…, but….” God answers prayer in the best way— not just sometimes, but every time. However, the evidence of the answer in the area we want it may not always immediately follow. Do we expect God to answer prayer?” CHAMBERS
 
When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, He did.  (Matthew 6:9-13) We call it the Lord’s prayer, but perhaps we should call it Prayer 101. Acknowledge God as sovereign, ask that He give us what we need, ask that He forgive our sins, ask that He give us the strength to resist temptation.  Pretty simple.  When Jesus was in the garden, (Luke 22: 42) He prayed,  “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”  Jesus asked something of the Father, but it was in the context of the Father’s will. When we think of prayer, all too often it is more like ordering from a menu.  Have you noticed how many people order food?  Often they say “Can I have or I would like”  As if the server is going to say “No! I am giving you a hamburger and fries!”  The server doesn’t care what you order.  They don’t care if it’s good for you.  In fact they will ask if you “left room for desert”.  Not so with God.  His will is perfect.  Jesus told the disciples that (John 4:34) “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” His priority, as ours should be, is to do the will of the Father.  If you pray that God’s will be done, you pray in harmony with the very nature of God.  His will, will be done.  Our lives should be in alignment with His will.
 
(James 5:16) Why are the prayers of a righteous man powerful and effective?  Because they are in alignment with the will of the Father.  Is there something stirring in you that challenges that notion.  Something that says, but what I want is reasonable, why would God deny me? Why indeed.  (James 4:2-3) “You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”  Go back to Prayer 101.  If you were to condense that lesson it would be summed up in Proverbs 3:5-6.  Trust God.  Charley

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