Why Are You Praying?

One of the great misconceptions in Christian circles is that God must give us what we ask because of our great need...or because we are so fervent in our praying...or because what we ask is not selfish or intended to feed some ungodly lust.  Our Lord answers our prayers because of the work of Christ on the Cross.  Sin is the great destroyer of all praying and, regardless of our determination to get what we want, it is fool's gold to reach out to God for anything but His forgiveness and transformed life.  Have we come to realize that Satan can give us what we ask and we can gain great treasure on earth without a drop of God in it?  The only proof you have that God is coming to you in your praying is if your faith is in Christ alone to save you.  His blood upon your heart is the mark of your citizenship and family heritage.  What good is it to gain the whole world and lose your soul!  What good is it to have a new car, a better job, a string of new friends or a fixed home if the blood of Christ does not seal them with redemption?  Prayer is the grand opportunity we have to give ourselves completely over to Christ to care for us and transform our will which we have from conception as a gift of God.  Wants and needs are never to be the center of praying.  It is the remade personality we have through the crucified life of our Lord that must take center stage.  At some point, we will discover in our praying that we have not a shred of worrying in our praying, that we have become like little children who trust absolutely in the Good Father due to the transforming work of Christ in our crucified praying and the fret will be gone that perhaps we have been abandoned in our needs and wants.  The theology of praying must never be bound up in the getting but always in the receiving.  These are two very different ends and it can take a lifetime to know the difference between the two.

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.  Mark 11:24 NIV

Watch Attentively

It is astounding how quickly we turn aside to some vulgar strategy for solving our relational problems!  We get angry, pout, pull in allies, defend ourselves, sulk, hold imaginary conversations in our heads, plot revenge, nurse grudges, take out our frustrations on others.  Yet have we considered the response of Habakkuk to the coming onslaught of the Babylonians?  I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, (Habakkuk 2:1 NIV)  We would rather do ten thousand things other than watch for God and look to see what He might say about our relationships.  We forget in a millisecond the astounding work Christ has done for us on the Cross.  He did not die the brutal death to get us independent and up and running. Through the Cross He became our husband spiritually but not figuratively.  Literally He has joined Himself to us in a perfect union of love, faith and hope.  Consequently, every relationship we have can be worked through that triplet because God is in us.  Love, faith and hope will each become the guiding force of Christ in the community God has given us if we would just watch and look for what   God will say to us.  Any fool can get mad when he is frustrated by someone's bad behavior.   Where is God in the sulk, in the grudge?  What miracle of the Cross is found in the bitter feelings?  If we are born-again, there is no enemy beyond the reach of the love, faith and hope God has given us nor is there a relative or friend Christ cannot take back into our hearts.    Just one look at the word our Lord has given us will correct us if we are watching for it and the miracle of the Cross will awaken us again to Christ in us, the hope of glory.

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'  But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.     Matthew 5:43-45 NIV