Useless prayers
“ the fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much...” James 5:18b unless....
Have you ever prayed a prayer that was just downright silly? I bet you have.
How about... you run a red light and with a police car directly behind you. you pray, “Lord, I pray that the police officer doesn’t see me!”
How about... after you take a test at school and you pray, “Lord, I hope I did well.”
Now for a biggy...You take a blood test, or have lab work done and you pray, “Lord I pray that everything comes out okay.”
So, why are these prayers silly?
First example. Is God going to blind a police person when you know you’ve broken the law? Well, he didn’t blind one when I accidentally broke the speed limit on my way to church. I did pray though,,, I asked for “MERCY”. Thankfully it was my first ticket... not that it helped my prayer any, just sayin’.
So, the second prayer is asking God to go back and fix your mistakes? Ummm....I don’t think so.
And the third? If you’ve taken a blood test, it’s going to show what it’s going to show. If it shows that all is well, that doesn’t mean that God answered your prayer....it means that all was well.
So, how do we pray in these situations? What kind of prayers can get results?
Let’s take number two because I already told you that mercy is the best you can hope for number one.
Before I take a test...I study... Well, the Bible says to “Study to show oneself approved.” 2 Timothy chapter 2. So, if I study...I’m doing the requirements to get a good grade, right? Well, what if I’ve studied but I get upset or I get concerned or distracted. Can’t I then ask God, while I’m taking the test to .” Remind me of what I’ve studied?” I know he’ll do that.
I remember once in high school, I was taking a test. I had memorized every question and answer to prepare for the test and there was one that I just couldn’t recall. So, I sat there and prayed. “Lord, you know that I know the answer to this question, but for some reason, I just can’t remember. Please remind me.” After a couple of minutes...BINGO! The answer returned to my brain. I got an A on that test by the way. Not because of some magic, God did not intervene because I had failed to prepare. Nope, He took what I had and brought it back to my mind. Simple prayer really, Right? But God heeded it because I gave him something to work with. 2 Timothy chapter 2. (Check out the miracles Jesus did with two fishes and five loaves of bread...he had something to work with).
What about the big one, Number three? How do I pray about that one?
Here is how I pray when I take a physical test. “Lord, whatever is wrong, let it be found and provide a way of healing , whether it be through medicine or miracle... both are of your doing.” If the test result comes back positive I then pray, “Lord, you already knew this was going to happen. I trust you, I know that healing comes in many forms. Sometimes healing comes in form of a medical miracle, sometimes you intervene and sometimes death is the ultimate healing.” Wow, now that takes faith. Do you have enough confidence in the Lord to say that if death is my ultimate healing, I trust you to take my spirit into eternity with you where I will have everlasting life? Doesn't’ that take more faith than it does to live here?
So, the lesson for today is to take your praying seriously. If you’re going to ask God to intervene make sure it’s according to the laws of nature, the laws that he set out in the beginning, the laws of common sense and leave the rest to him. He answers prayer.
In closing, let me take this to a personal level. I remember when I got the results back from the cancer tests. The wrong report came back and said that everything was fine. This showed me my level of spirituality.... I said, “I knew God wouldn’t let that happen to me!” Then after I got the real result back and it was, “you have six months to live.” My sudden belief that I had overcome something because of who I was to God fell apart.
Why in the world would I believe that there was something special about me that would spare me of the dreaded disease of cancer? Had I earned healing? Did I deserve to be made well? Was I better than someone else? Did I have more faith? Nope! When I responded by saying, “I knew God wouldn't let that happen to ME. I exposed that I had faith in my righteousness and that it would overcome the diagnosis. That was foolish . So, three months later my prayer changed. Did I have more faith? Nope. Did I have different faith? Yes. This time I gave my life to him and prayed, “Lord if healing comes through death, I’m safe in your arms.” And..here I am 16 years later. I get no glory, I have no credit, I didn’t do anything different, I just let God be God and decided that which ever way he wanted to bring healing into my life... I trusted him.
I was honestly in the throws of depression when I prayed. I was tired. Tired of fighting, tired of living, tired. My actual word for word prayer was, “Lord, if it’s not going to get any better than this, please let me go.” It sounds sad, but it was the faith I had at the time. When I woke up almost two months later I decided that life had to get better. I had surrendered.
Now, in all honestly, life hasn’t been all that grand sometimes. When I went through the divorce and my children stopped speaking to me, when I couldn’t see my granddaughters, I got angry.. “Did I survive to be tormented like this?” “How is this better?”
I once again had to lay my opinion of better down and realize that my story wasn't over yet. It still isn’t. But after years of trusting him, my children are restored to me. My health is much better and life is better than it was. I still believe there is more to come. I even believe that this blog is one of the reasons God spared my life. He wanted you to know that there was (is) hope. Whether it be eternity with him, or hope during the challenges that face us here...it is always better with him.
Let’s use our prayer time wisely. Let’s ask before we do. Let’s seek His will in its fullest capacity, even if we don’t understand the answer.
Sometimes , when you just don’t know what he wants, the best prayer is, “Thy will be done.” Trust..faith...hope.. answers.
If you do not know Jesus as Lord and Savior, please see my blog “What you talkin about Willis?”
Have you ever prayed a prayer that was just downright silly? I bet you have.
How about... you run a red light and with a police car directly behind you. you pray, “Lord, I pray that the police officer doesn’t see me!”
How about... after you take a test at school and you pray, “Lord, I hope I did well.”
Now for a biggy...You take a blood test, or have lab work done and you pray, “Lord I pray that everything comes out okay.”
So, why are these prayers silly?
First example. Is God going to blind a police person when you know you’ve broken the law? Well, he didn’t blind one when I accidentally broke the speed limit on my way to church. I did pray though,,, I asked for “MERCY”. Thankfully it was my first ticket... not that it helped my prayer any, just sayin’.
So, the second prayer is asking God to go back and fix your mistakes? Ummm....I don’t think so.
And the third? If you’ve taken a blood test, it’s going to show what it’s going to show. If it shows that all is well, that doesn’t mean that God answered your prayer....it means that all was well.
So, how do we pray in these situations? What kind of prayers can get results?
Let’s take number two because I already told you that mercy is the best you can hope for number one.
Before I take a test...I study... Well, the Bible says to “Study to show oneself approved.” 2 Timothy chapter 2. So, if I study...I’m doing the requirements to get a good grade, right? Well, what if I’ve studied but I get upset or I get concerned or distracted. Can’t I then ask God, while I’m taking the test to .” Remind me of what I’ve studied?” I know he’ll do that.
I remember once in high school, I was taking a test. I had memorized every question and answer to prepare for the test and there was one that I just couldn’t recall. So, I sat there and prayed. “Lord, you know that I know the answer to this question, but for some reason, I just can’t remember. Please remind me.” After a couple of minutes...BINGO! The answer returned to my brain. I got an A on that test by the way. Not because of some magic, God did not intervene because I had failed to prepare. Nope, He took what I had and brought it back to my mind. Simple prayer really, Right? But God heeded it because I gave him something to work with. 2 Timothy chapter 2. (Check out the miracles Jesus did with two fishes and five loaves of bread...he had something to work with).
What about the big one, Number three? How do I pray about that one?
Here is how I pray when I take a physical test. “Lord, whatever is wrong, let it be found and provide a way of healing , whether it be through medicine or miracle... both are of your doing.” If the test result comes back positive I then pray, “Lord, you already knew this was going to happen. I trust you, I know that healing comes in many forms. Sometimes healing comes in form of a medical miracle, sometimes you intervene and sometimes death is the ultimate healing.” Wow, now that takes faith. Do you have enough confidence in the Lord to say that if death is my ultimate healing, I trust you to take my spirit into eternity with you where I will have everlasting life? Doesn't’ that take more faith than it does to live here?
So, the lesson for today is to take your praying seriously. If you’re going to ask God to intervene make sure it’s according to the laws of nature, the laws that he set out in the beginning, the laws of common sense and leave the rest to him. He answers prayer.
In closing, let me take this to a personal level. I remember when I got the results back from the cancer tests. The wrong report came back and said that everything was fine. This showed me my level of spirituality.... I said, “I knew God wouldn’t let that happen to me!” Then after I got the real result back and it was, “you have six months to live.” My sudden belief that I had overcome something because of who I was to God fell apart.
Why in the world would I believe that there was something special about me that would spare me of the dreaded disease of cancer? Had I earned healing? Did I deserve to be made well? Was I better than someone else? Did I have more faith? Nope! When I responded by saying, “I knew God wouldn't let that happen to ME. I exposed that I had faith in my righteousness and that it would overcome the diagnosis. That was foolish . So, three months later my prayer changed. Did I have more faith? Nope. Did I have different faith? Yes. This time I gave my life to him and prayed, “Lord if healing comes through death, I’m safe in your arms.” And..here I am 16 years later. I get no glory, I have no credit, I didn’t do anything different, I just let God be God and decided that which ever way he wanted to bring healing into my life... I trusted him.
I was honestly in the throws of depression when I prayed. I was tired. Tired of fighting, tired of living, tired. My actual word for word prayer was, “Lord, if it’s not going to get any better than this, please let me go.” It sounds sad, but it was the faith I had at the time. When I woke up almost two months later I decided that life had to get better. I had surrendered.
Now, in all honestly, life hasn’t been all that grand sometimes. When I went through the divorce and my children stopped speaking to me, when I couldn’t see my granddaughters, I got angry.. “Did I survive to be tormented like this?” “How is this better?”
I once again had to lay my opinion of better down and realize that my story wasn't over yet. It still isn’t. But after years of trusting him, my children are restored to me. My health is much better and life is better than it was. I still believe there is more to come. I even believe that this blog is one of the reasons God spared my life. He wanted you to know that there was (is) hope. Whether it be eternity with him, or hope during the challenges that face us here...it is always better with him.
Let’s use our prayer time wisely. Let’s ask before we do. Let’s seek His will in its fullest capacity, even if we don’t understand the answer.
Sometimes , when you just don’t know what he wants, the best prayer is, “Thy will be done.” Trust..faith...hope.. answers.
If you do not know Jesus as Lord and Savior, please see my blog “What you talkin about Willis?”
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