Getting Specific with God

Genesis 24; Nehemiah 13; Matthew 23; Acts 23

A friend’s husband likes to go fishing and wanted an upgrade to replace his boat. He found one but it was longer than his garage and she thought it was too expensive. She prayed asking God to change the mind of the seller and help her husband find a shorter boat that was less expensive. A couple of days later, the seller called to say he’d changed his mind and didn’t want to sell the boat. About the same time, hubby found another boat that fit in the garage, was less money, and perfectly suited his needs.

My friend gave herself no credit for her specific prayer. She said God put it into her heart to pray that way. This is not a new thing, not for her or many others and not for a servant of Abraham.

This servant was given the task of going to another country and finding a wife for Isaac. The request was specific; he had to ‘kindred.’ The servant worried that even if he found such a woman, what if she was not willing to come with him and marry a stranger. Abraham let him off the hook should that happen. Then he sent the servant on his way. As this man neared the city where Abraham’s relatives lived, he stopped at a well and prayed:

“O Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham. Behold, I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. Let the young woman to whom I shall say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who shall say, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels’—let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master.” (Genesis 24:12–14)

Before he finished speaking, an attractive young woman came out and did exactly as the servant requested. He “bowed his head and worshiped the Lord and said, ‘Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the Lord has led me in the way to the house of my master’s kinsmen.’” (Genesis 24:26–27)

Nehemiah also prayed specifically. He had the hard task of rebuking sin among the people and insisting that they obey the Lord. He gave reasons for it, but also became physical in his persistence. He prayed the same prayer three times:

Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for his service. (Nehemiah 13:14)

Then I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come and guard the gates, to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember this also in my favor, O my God, and spare me according to the greatness of your steadfast love. (Nehemiah 13:22)

Thus I cleansed them from everything foreign, and I established the duties of the priests and Levites, each in his work; and I provided for the wood offering at appointed times, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good. (Nehemiah 13:30–31)

This leader prayed for a blessing by specifically naming what he had done in obedience. The gospel says we cannot earn the favor of God, but this example tells me that I can request it. This may seem a little brazen, but then I read in Acts what the Lord said to Paul regarding his obedience:

The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.” (Acts 23:11)

God kept His promise. Paul was under arrest by the Romans. His young nephew heard of a plot by the Jews to kill his uncle. He informed Paul who sent him to the tribune or leader of the Roman army in that place. This man outsmarted those who devised the plot and was able to rescue Paul and send him on his way to Rome. The need was specific and so was the answer.

Today we renew our weekly prayer group. I had hoped to plan how I might encourage anyone comes to pray. A specific need, but we had a visitor last night and I ran out of steam. This morning God gives me what I need — real stories about specific prayer for specific needs, heard by God and answered just as they prayed. Lord, today I ask that You bless this time of prayer. Put the words in our hearts and answer those prayers according to Your will.

Idolizing prayer

In my hearing, someone told another person, “If you don’t want your life changed, try to stay off Elsie’s hit list.” He was talking about prayer and that was not the first time I’d heard him say it.

This was not a good thing to hear. In no time, my prayer focus shifted off talking with God. I started to think more about what I was saying and how I was praying and prayer became a performance. This is why Jesus warned His followers about their motives for praying . . .  

And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (Matthew 6:5–6)

Jesus isn’t suggesting that we never pray publicly, but to be careful that prayers are for the ears of God and not the ears of man.

Occasionally I’ve heard people pray with big long explanations of the situation, obviously not for God who knows more than we do, but for the others in the group. I’ve done that myself. I’ve also heard wordy prayers spoken in flowery language, quite unlike the normal conversation of the person praying. Even more subtle is praying with the idea that if we can “get the words right” then God will be more apt to hear and answer.

Besides being so silly in the way of prayer, the attitude of the heart can become even sillier. I can come to God with a to-do list that tells Him how to run things, as if I know! I can also come to God with all sorts of excuses for my bad behavior, or the opposite with all sorts of reasons why I’m good enough that He should hear me. Jesus also covered this in another parable . . .

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:9–14)

Prayer is a conversation between myself and God whom I have trusted with my life and eternal destiny. It is supposed to be an expression of my heart just as He expresses His heart to me. However, if I put my praying on a pedestal as if the words I say are special or the way that I say them is surely going to move Almighty God, then I am not praying at all.

Besides that error, if I pray on the outside and think about something else on the inside, just mouthing the words, then I am a hypocrite too . . .

And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men, therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.” (Isaiah 29:13–14)

Here, when God says He will do wonders, He is not talking about things that delight us and that we usually associate with this word. It is more like an unexpected marvel that will reduce this so-called wisdom of mine and put it where it belongs. It is a wonder that I don’t want to ever see.

God wants integrity, honesty, and from-the-heart prayers. When I talk to Him, He already knows what I am thinking. If others are within earshot, I’m not to worry about what they think. In fact, if the sound of my public prayers do not match the sound of my closet prayers, this is my first clue that I’ve made an idol out of my praying and have lost that privileged connection with God.

Fully Employed

One day I went for my usual prayer walk. My to-do list for the day was long and looming over my head. I felt a bit resentful that prayer was going to take some valuable time and expressed this to God along with my need to get my work done. He clearly said to me, “Prayer is your work.”

Since that rebuke, I’ve not grumbled about the time it takes to pray. However, I’d never connected prayer to John 14:12, a verse that has always puzzled me, until this morning while reading it in its context.

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. (John 14:12–14)

Oswald Chambers says that “prayer does not fit us for greater work; prayer is the greater work.” I once thought that prayer would prepare me for the day, give me strength and wisdom to do the Lord’s work, and keep me focused on Him. However, after God rebuked me, I’ve learned to agree with Chambers. Prayer is the greater ministry. It is the most important work, perhaps the only work that He asks of me that is truly effective.

As Chambers says, prayer is God working the miracle of Redemption in me that produces the miracle of Redemption in others by His power. This isn’t about me agonizing and wrestling in prayer though. It is based on “the agony of Redemption” and on what Jesus has done. It has taken me a long time to realize that wise words and “proper” praying are not what God answers. He wants prayer from the redeemed which means my fleshy ideas of prayer are not important. Instead, He hears and responds to childlike helplessness and the realization that this is not about me.

Prayer is also the battle of Christian living. I fight sin and indifference. I wrestle with false teaching and the devil’s lies, but none of these are nearly as challenging as taking the needs of the world to the throne of grace in the name of Jesus. Prayer, as Jesus defines it, is hard work.

I can easily pray in my own name and with my list of I-wants. I can easily tell God what I think He should be doing (such impertinence), but praying in the name of Christ because He asks me to do it requires the Spirit of God and the power of God. I cannot do this on my own and I don’t even want to.

Of course, the flesh likes the answers even if it recoils at the work. I love it when God answers prayer in ways that I can see. This thrill tends to become a motivation, but what about praying without ever seeing the answers? This adds to the difficulty of the work. A small comparison is the tedium of a factory assembly line where the workers do their small part and never see the finished product. The only way to avoid this is remembering that I am talking to the Creator of the Universe and that He promised to listen and respond. I cannot see into His realm unless He opens that to me. Instead, He asks that I walk by faith, not sight, and that I work hard in prayer.

Answered prayer can also be a glory for me. I love to stand and tell others that God answered my prayers, as if the “my” side had something to do with the answer. But Jesus said that the glory is not for me, but for the Father to be glorified in the Son. This makes prayer a totally unselfish task, one that is difficult to sustain without wanting something in it for me.

Clearly, prayer is my work. Is there a reward involved? When a servant does his duty, can he expect anything, even a “well done” when finished? Do I fall into thinking that answers are my reward rather than simply the privilege of being in the throne room with the King of kings?

Chambers surprises me with the last lines of his reading for today. He says, “You labor at prayer and results happen all the time from God’s standpoint. What an astonishment it will be to find, when the veil is lifted, the souls that have been reaped by you, simply because you had been in the habit of taking your orders from Jesus Christ.”

*********

Jesus, I am ashamed that I often feel neglected when the answers to my prayers do not come as quickly as I’d hoped or in the same manner as I expected. I know that talking to You is an incredible privilege. It is also my God-given task. You are the Lord, so I do not choose my work hours or the places where I am to be working. Nor can I dictate the rewards or the results of my labor.

Not only that, You are in charge and You have given Your commands. I am to ask in Your name, seek Your glory, and trust that praying is a great work because You say it is — whether or not I can see what comes of it. Forgive me for the slack times, the times that I either am late or do not show up at all. I know that in spite of my failures, You will never kick me off the job. Instead, You keep calling me to work, to pray without ceasing. 

(Photo credit)

Prayer is . . .

Today’s reading from Matthew 6 is a discussion on the second verse of the Lord’s model prayer: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

The writer of my devotional guide says that prayer has a three-sided nature. When we pray, there is “someone prayed to, someone prayed for, and someone prayed against.”

As I read it, I’m convicted that I sometimes get those roles mixed up.

As the prayer says, I’m praying to “Our Father in heaven,” yet I’ve been in prayer groups where my prayers sounded more like I was telling the others all about my request instead of simply taking it to the Lord—who knows more about it than I do and needs no long explanation. That isn’t what praying is about.

As for what I pray for, most of my requests involve the needs of people. These needs come to my attention and I take them to the Lord, often with all sorts of suggestions as to what He should do about them. In other words, I’m telling God how to run the universe.

Jesus’ model prayer doesn’t do that. These words from verse 10 are an expression of surrender to His will, asking Him to do what He wants done, not telling Him what I want or think He should do. I may assume that I am not opposed to Him. I may assume that I am yielded to His decisions and choices, even that I am willing to accept “no” or “wait” as an answer. Yet how can that be so, if I find myself telling God what to do? That isn’t what prayer is about either.

In that same vein, I often catch myself praying fervently for something that is clearly His will, something that He wants more than I do—as if to persuade Him to action. I believe God has the power to do anything, but sometimes my prayers sound like He is resisting and I am trying to talk Him into doing something.

When I pray, I have to remember that I am not persuading God, nor is He is my genie in a bottle. Instead, I am partnering with Him against all evil influences that stand opposed to His will. The devil comes to mind, but it is not always the devil; sometimes people have built up strongholds of resistance to God. It that case, I’m to pray that those strongholds are brought down and every thought brought into obedience to Christ.

Yet the resistance that most often stands opposed to Him is not the devil or others, but me—me—even as I talk to Him. When I say, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done” then I better mean it first for myself.