Keeping God In The Spice Cabinet
Lately I have been thinking about prayer.
I recently was able to do some outreach to a few homes. We gave away Turkey meals from Passage Church. This was cool in many ways. For one, it’s been a while since I’ve done an outreach like this and I was really excited about going. Next, I was praying that God would show up and He did. Also, it was my birthday, so what a gift, eh!
During our outreaching we delivered a meal to an family of 6. It was really neat. To make a long story short, the parents are sending their children to church, but they do not go. They are African so their English is not very well understood. But, the husband says he loves the Lord, he just doesn’t know how to pray and read the Bible. Therefore, I told him I’d give him a week to connect with his church and I will call him back. If he did not connect, I will pay him another visit. I have never before been asked how to pray⎯let alone from a grown man that is about a foot taller than me and about 100 lbs heavier! This is what got me thinking about prayer and how often times we totally miss the mark on prayer.
We often times approach prayer in the same way as cooking.
In cooking we have to add many different ingredients to make the thing we are making. Some foods require fewer ingredients while others require more. Either way, if we add the proper ingredient to the mix, and prepare it the right way, we come out with the intended result: maybe a cake, a pot roast, a meat loaf. This is where I think we get prayer a little wrong.
When we want to cook something we first determine what it is we want to cook. In other words, what is our desired result? We often approach prayer in the same way. We may have a desired result, such as a new raise at work, a promotion, some life goal, a healing, etc. If we approach prayer in this way, we will often times misinterpret the meaning of prayer.
First we ought to understand what our desired result is. Is it that raise? Is it that promotion, or that life goal? If it is, as yourself why your desired result is not to be more near to God’s heart. If you get your promotion, and your heart is far from God, what good is the prayer? It becomes no more than a clanging sound in the wind. If God blesses us with an answered prayer and we remain distant from Him, what’s the point in praying? To grant you your requests? May as well forget about it. We must understand that prayer ought to first be a method of communication that brings us more near to God’s own heart, because in doing so we are changed. And if we’re continually changed, we can be a channel to others for the sake of God’s goodness and love.
God is not a recipe.
We can’t think that just because we said the right things, or prayed in the proper position, or had the confidence when we prayed that God will “honor” (a word that people use when they really mean “grant”) our prayer. When cooking we add different spices to different mixtures for different desired results. When we come to God, we give Him our spices not so that we can accomplish some desired result; instead we give Him our spices because it gives us joy. We simply lay down everything that makes our lives sweet, flavorful, and seasoned⎯anything that is worthy⎯at our precious Lord’s feet in prayer. We do this because it gives us joy. If from Him we desire anything first, it is first the desire of Him. He is our reward, He is our treasure⎯He is our desired result.
What about you?
How’s your prayer life? What are your obstacles when approaching prayer? Are you guilty of trying to use God as a formulaic recipe?
Go ahead, spill the beans.
⎯Jonathan
Photo by ambernussbaum
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What a wonderful blog to read this morning with Thanksgiving this week. You know how I love to pray for others. It is about what God wants. He takes my prayers and does what He can in His own time and in His own way. Like everything else we need patience to have prayer answered. Thank you for sharing. Though things fall apart in our lives we can be sure God has a handle on it. God already knows what we need but He is so happy when His children pray to Him. Bless you my friend. May you and your family be blessed this Thanksgiving with family and friends around you. Hugs, Peace and Grace, Sandy
Thanks so much Sandy. Yes, I remember how much you enjoy praying for others. This is truly a gift from God. That you have a desire to pray for others gives evidence to the fact that God has done a work in your own heart.
God bless you this Thanksgiving. Where the Lord is there is freedom, no matter who else is not there with you.
Thank you Jason. I truly believe praying is the best way to feel the presence of God in my life. Bless you.
You're right, Jonathan. We do ask for God to bless our will and make it His own.
That reveals the wisdom of Jesus when He taught His disciples how to pray. He taught them to pray, "Thy will be done," before praying, "Give us this day our daily bread." We are told to ask for specific things. But we seek those things in context of seeking His will.
Brought a smile to my face when you said you were thinking about prayer. I hope you chase this topic far. I'll be a fellow traveler with you.
I know you are a pursuer of prayer also. I'm on my way to be a greater pursuer of the virtue. It is a virtue, you know. But it is a good and worthy virtue.
Good insight into the prayer our Lord taught His disciples. I'm looking into a few books on prayer, one of which is by Miller, "A Praying Life," and something by Brennan Manning. Do you have any recommendations?
I've heard good things about Miller's book. I own it, haven't read it yet (I amass more than is possible to ingest/digest, you know?).
I highly recommend Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire – by Jim Cymbala. It's the story of what the Lord did early in the life of the church he pastors, and the role prayer played. It is a unique mix of compelling biography and insightful teaching. The Lord has really been using that book in my personal walk.
I'm looking for something that I can go through with someone to help as a disciple aid as I disciple a person in prayer and reading the Bible. I'm hoping to find something that expresses a longing after the heart of God in prayer as sustenance for life.
The Cymbala book will express a longing after the heart of God in prayer as few other books [that I know of] will.
The new version of the book has a study guide in it for small-group discussion. My older copy doesn't have it though, so I can't tell you much about it. All I can say is…read that book!
Right on! lol.