Post by MIRIAM JACOB on Mar 2, 2007 8:08:13 GMT -5
February 2nd, 2007
I am not saying that we should not pray to God with our troubles and to not ask for His deliverence, because we most certainly should, but what I am saying is that that is but one type of prayer that belongs in its own place. The point is that our whole prayer life should not revolve completely around this type of prayer. If it does, you may find, if you havn't already, that it can get old and boring, resulting in less energy and desire to talk to God, which ultimately results in other things starting to consume our minds, therefore pushing God out of the focus of our lives. At the current rate, by 2020 only 4% of American adults will be true Bible believing Christians. Most kids grow up falling away from the faith, even if they claim they havn't, because they are more focused on church attendance and man-made traditions and rituals than actually getting to know God on a personal level.
God wants us to give our problems to Him. He wants us to call out to Him in our times of trouble, to look to Him for our support and comfort. I am by no means saying that we should not be asking God to help us get this job, or help us overcome this disease, or to not let our friends betray us, etc. What I mean is simply that prayer should not be limited to this, we should pray more, but add to it. It is ok to pray for these things, but they should not be the focus or the reason we pray.
The first thing I believe we should start to do is relate to God in prayer. This is what it means to have a relationship anyway. Whether we are having a great or absolutly horrible day, it is important to first address God in prayer by relating to Him, so that we remain in Him. In John 15:4-7 Jesus says that we must abide in Him as the branch sticks close to the vine. In other words, when we come to God in prayer, especially when we are asking God for help, we must be careful to not get too consumed in our circumstances, and to focus on the big picture, remaining in Him.
The focus of our prayer should not be on ourselves, but on the relationship between us and God.
When our prayer is centered on us, we'll typically start by asking God to help us in a troubling situation, and then thank Him if our desires are met. For example, say you have a big job interview coming up. You really need this job and you are really stressing out about preparing for the interview. Naturally what is going to be on your mind most is getting ready for the interview. You're going to get up in the morning, and while you shower, get dressed, eat, and drive to the interview location, all that is going to be on your mind are your worries and concerns about the interview. This is the most common time when we'll start asking God, "Please help me" ... Please give me the strength and comfort I need to relax and make this interview go smoothly, and please help me get the job.
While that may be a good prayer, I do not believe it is the best way to go about praying, because when we pray this way, we are still focused on ourselves and getting that job, rather than the relationship between God and us. For a quick example for why this may be important, what if for some reason that you are unaware of, getting this job may hurt your relationship with God? You would be wearing yourself out with unnessary stress. And the saddest part about it is that if this cycle continues, we may begin to lose interest in asking God to help us and protect us, because we feel that it will make no difference if we still may not get what we want. But this only hurts our relationship with God.
A better way to go about praying in my opinion is to start by focusing on that relationship. God made us in His image, and our point in living on this earth is to become like Christ and to grow closer to God. This cannot be done though if our focus is on our worldly desires and our circumstances. The focus must be on our relationship with God and becoming more like Him. Just like a father and child, the purpose of you having a relationship with your father is not to get things from him, but to love and relate to one another. Of course asking him for things is not wrong and you should go to him with your problems and troubles, but hopefully the center of your relationship with your father isn't to just get things you want.
If we focus on getting things we want, we become more confused and upset when it seems that our prayers are not answered, and we also will find it more boring to talk to God. To tell you the truth, the scariest thing for me in my walk with God, was when I honestly realized one day that I just did not have the energy to pray anymore. I saw no point in it. I felt like the only purpose in praying was to let God know I'm here and suffering. But most of my prayers seemed to go unanswered, and as far as I could tell, there was no difference in the outcome of my situations whether I prayed or not, so I thought, why bother?
But God later showed me what my problem was. I was not relating to Him. God knows you are there, and if you are suffering, He knows that. What He wants you to do is humble yourself before Him, become like a child, be honest about your feelings, and just love Him for who He is. He wants you to put your relationship with Him first. If our relationship with God does not come first, then do we honestly value Him above our worldy desires?
(C) Scott Morgan
source:http://www.the-daily-blessing.com
I am not saying that we should not pray to God with our troubles and to not ask for His deliverence, because we most certainly should, but what I am saying is that that is but one type of prayer that belongs in its own place. The point is that our whole prayer life should not revolve completely around this type of prayer. If it does, you may find, if you havn't already, that it can get old and boring, resulting in less energy and desire to talk to God, which ultimately results in other things starting to consume our minds, therefore pushing God out of the focus of our lives. At the current rate, by 2020 only 4% of American adults will be true Bible believing Christians. Most kids grow up falling away from the faith, even if they claim they havn't, because they are more focused on church attendance and man-made traditions and rituals than actually getting to know God on a personal level.
God wants us to give our problems to Him. He wants us to call out to Him in our times of trouble, to look to Him for our support and comfort. I am by no means saying that we should not be asking God to help us get this job, or help us overcome this disease, or to not let our friends betray us, etc. What I mean is simply that prayer should not be limited to this, we should pray more, but add to it. It is ok to pray for these things, but they should not be the focus or the reason we pray.
The first thing I believe we should start to do is relate to God in prayer. This is what it means to have a relationship anyway. Whether we are having a great or absolutly horrible day, it is important to first address God in prayer by relating to Him, so that we remain in Him. In John 15:4-7 Jesus says that we must abide in Him as the branch sticks close to the vine. In other words, when we come to God in prayer, especially when we are asking God for help, we must be careful to not get too consumed in our circumstances, and to focus on the big picture, remaining in Him.
The focus of our prayer should not be on ourselves, but on the relationship between us and God.
When our prayer is centered on us, we'll typically start by asking God to help us in a troubling situation, and then thank Him if our desires are met. For example, say you have a big job interview coming up. You really need this job and you are really stressing out about preparing for the interview. Naturally what is going to be on your mind most is getting ready for the interview. You're going to get up in the morning, and while you shower, get dressed, eat, and drive to the interview location, all that is going to be on your mind are your worries and concerns about the interview. This is the most common time when we'll start asking God, "Please help me" ... Please give me the strength and comfort I need to relax and make this interview go smoothly, and please help me get the job.
While that may be a good prayer, I do not believe it is the best way to go about praying, because when we pray this way, we are still focused on ourselves and getting that job, rather than the relationship between God and us. For a quick example for why this may be important, what if for some reason that you are unaware of, getting this job may hurt your relationship with God? You would be wearing yourself out with unnessary stress. And the saddest part about it is that if this cycle continues, we may begin to lose interest in asking God to help us and protect us, because we feel that it will make no difference if we still may not get what we want. But this only hurts our relationship with God.
A better way to go about praying in my opinion is to start by focusing on that relationship. God made us in His image, and our point in living on this earth is to become like Christ and to grow closer to God. This cannot be done though if our focus is on our worldly desires and our circumstances. The focus must be on our relationship with God and becoming more like Him. Just like a father and child, the purpose of you having a relationship with your father is not to get things from him, but to love and relate to one another. Of course asking him for things is not wrong and you should go to him with your problems and troubles, but hopefully the center of your relationship with your father isn't to just get things you want.
If we focus on getting things we want, we become more confused and upset when it seems that our prayers are not answered, and we also will find it more boring to talk to God. To tell you the truth, the scariest thing for me in my walk with God, was when I honestly realized one day that I just did not have the energy to pray anymore. I saw no point in it. I felt like the only purpose in praying was to let God know I'm here and suffering. But most of my prayers seemed to go unanswered, and as far as I could tell, there was no difference in the outcome of my situations whether I prayed or not, so I thought, why bother?
But God later showed me what my problem was. I was not relating to Him. God knows you are there, and if you are suffering, He knows that. What He wants you to do is humble yourself before Him, become like a child, be honest about your feelings, and just love Him for who He is. He wants you to put your relationship with Him first. If our relationship with God does not come first, then do we honestly value Him above our worldy desires?
(C) Scott Morgan
source:http://www.the-daily-blessing.com