On Prayer

I've been thinking about prayer lately. Pastor Jim Jones preached an amazing sermon on Luke 11:5-13, the parable of the persistent neighbor and "ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you."

We often have misconceptions about prayer and how God answers our prayers. We think, "God will give me what I want if it is a righteous thing and I promise to be good."

Or we might say, "Since God loves me He will answer my prayer, whatever it may be."

"Give us what we want God because you love us."

Nope. Not at all.

God always answers our prayers. But He doesn't always answer them in the way we might want Him to.

I like to think of this in terms of a mother feeding a child. He may ask for cake but she gives him spinach instead. Why? Because it's better for him, it's what he needs and she has all the best for his health and growth in mind.

So it is with God. Sometimes He gives us spinach-like answers because He knows exactly what we need and when we need it. And when we're older we may come to understand that it was good for us even when we didn't like it at the time. We will be thankful that instead of giving us cake He gave us spinach.

Sometimes it's a long time before our prayers are answered. Pastor Jones compared this to a blacksmith working with iron. He must be patient and wait until the iron has gone from red hot to white hot before trying to shape it.

So God waits until our desires are white hot and pure. Until we can say, "Thy will be done" and honestly mean it. God patiently waits until He has brought us to a mature enough state to accept and handle His answer to our prayers. Just as a father does not give a .50 cal to his 7 year-old son, but waits until he is mature enough to handle it wisely and with care.

Does this mean we only pray about something once and wait for God? Not at all. We must pray, and continue praying. Be persistent like the man knocking on his neighbor's door for bread. Keep asking. Keep seeking. Continue to knock. When it is the perfect time, God will willingly, joyfully answer you. Sometimes it will be with spinach, sometimes with cake, but it will always be the best for you.

In making your requests known to God, take comfort in Luke 11:13:

"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him."