Have you ever listened to people pray on TV or maybe even at church? Sometimes the prayer is all about asking God to give them what they want to make them happy or “blessed”. As shocking as it may sound, this is not true prayer. True prayer is about praying for Creator God’s will to be done. How do we know His will? We need to read His Word! When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, one of the first things He said was, “pray for God’s will to be done here in our lives on earth and also in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).
True prayer is about positioning yourself with God’s will and praising Him when He gives and praising Him when He takes away. His ways are not our ways. We have the “here and now” on our minds and He is always thinking of our eternal welfare. He is desiring for us to thirst for His righteousness, to follow His ways and be led by His Spirit, not by our own sinful flesh. If you would like to know the difference between the works of our physical condition and His Spirit compare what Galatians 5:19 and Galatians 5:22 say.
Here is something else that may sound strange. Sometimes pain is a direct answer to prayer. Nobody should ever pray for pain to enter someone else’s life) but God knows this just may be what it takes in order for us to humble ourselves and be willing to seek His will, to abandon “our way”. This is God’s ultimate desire for us: To want Him to take control of every aspect of our lives; to desire His glory and not our own. This means stop seeking to please Him on your own by trying to do “good works” hoping the good things you do will outweigh your bad works. Only Christ can save us from the punishment to come which we deserve because of our sins against Him (Romans 6:23).
Have you put your hope and trust in Jesus to forgive the wrong you have done? Are you enjoying living with Him? Do you listen to Him daily through reading the Bible? Do you seek to apply it to your life or do you only pray to Him when you are in trouble or needing something to satisfy yourself? “If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for Me, you will find it.” That’s what Jesus said (Matthew 10:39).
A relationship with Christ is so much better than having our “little” prayers answered. If the only time we think of God is when we want something or are having difficulty, then we are in trouble. God has something for us that is so much bigger and better than we could even imagine. But we need to seek Him through His Son, Jesus Christ (John 14:6).
Make sure you have had a time in your life that you have recognized your sinfulness and guilt before a holy God. Believe that Jesus Christ took the punishment for you at the cross and rest in his finished work for the forgiveness of sins. Your eternal destiny and the quality of your life here on earth depends on what you do with Jesus Christ. When His salvation becomes yours your prayer life won’t be mechanical and based on your wants and needs only, but rather you will be able to say with King David who lived a long time ago, “As a deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God!” (Psalm 42:1).
Becky Kew shares Good News at Sandy Bay First Nation, Manitoba Canada. BeckyKew@outlook.com
