Praying God's Will

God is always at work in the lives of his children. Sometimes it is difficult to determine What God knows is best for us and our loved ones. Great good is sometimes accomplished from suffering and adversity. (James 1:2-4, 8:18, II Cor. 12:9-10) While the enemy may try to use these circumstances to discourage or separate us from closeness to God, God always means these things to strengthen our faith and relationship with him. He means everything that happens to us to work out for good. (Rom. 8:28)

Long ago I turned over control of my life to God. Nothing that happens to me is of the devil! The devil is not in charge! He can do only to me what either I or God give him permission to do. If it's me, I need to correct my ways: if it's God, I need to talk to him and see if he has something to tell me in regard to the matter. If I, like Job, get no answer, it is an indication to hold steady and let my faith and commitment be tried and strengthened. I don't want to be at odds with God, trying to go in the opposite direction he is going just because what is happening is inconvenient or painful for me. I need to be careful that my prayers are in tune with God's will. I don't want my selfish prayers to conflict with him! I do not want to be among those of whom it is said, "And he gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul," Ps. 106;15.

God always has a purpose for allowing troubles. (See: Rom. 8:28; II Cor. 4:17; Il Cor. 1:4-7; James 1:2-4; Il Cor. 12:7-10; and the book of Job.) He sometimes has a purpose for not delivering immediately. Let's determine to grow our faith and commitment during these times of testing!

It is appointed unto man once to die. It is an absolute certainty for every one of us. (Even if we're alive at the time of the rapture, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God: This corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. It will just happen in the twinkling of an eye instead of over a time period. (I Cor. 15:50-56)) In the eyes of God, our death is a wonderful and precious event! (Ps. 116:15 ) He awaits us with open arms. It is God's will that we die! To fear it, and dread it, and fight against it is often an act of rebellion against God's will! It is easy to get caught up in the spirit of the world's carnality and feel that the worst thing that can happen to us is death, and it is to be eliminated or postponed at all costs. That is not a Christian attitude. I pray God gives me discernment and a cooperative submissive heart to flow in harmony with God and not be found to fight what he is doing. God often uses pain and sickness to break down our resistance to his plans for our death, and bring us into a peaceful, relaxed state of faith concerning our impending death. I don't often hear Christians pray that someone would hurry up and get through the process and go on to heaven. I am also sure that we often pray against the will of God and are found to be fighting him. In some cases, even rebuking the devil for what God is doing. When it comes time for me to die, I hope we have enough discernment and faith to accept it with eagerness. I don't want anyone praying, out of the will of God, for my healing or longevity. And I certainly do not want anyone rebuking the devil in the process. The devil is not in charge of my life: He has nothing to do with it: I will not die an untimely death! God is still in control! He will bring to pass whatever he knows is best. I can trust him for that!

It's always a quandary for me to know how to pray for our nation and our politics. My goal is to be like the men of Issachar who understood the times in which they lived and what Israel should do. With the abundance of scriptures describing the end times and the prophecies concerning the same, it should be pretty easy to discern that we are living in the last days. So what are the last days going to be like? There are plenty of scriptures describing the last days but a good summary could be II Tim. 3:1-5. This is not a Bible study on the subject, but to put it simply: Bible prophecy will be fulfilled! We are in the transition period between the end of this age and the introduction of Christ's Millennial Kingdom. This is going to be a very messy transition! It is tempting to be like the Children of Israel headed for the promised land. When they got out in the wilderness and the going got rough, they cried to go back to Egypt. They should have quickened their pace and hurried on to the land of promise. So we demand that society turn back to a more ideal time. We are wasting our prayers fighting against God's prophetic pronouncements. It won't happen! We need to figure out what God is doing and flow in harmony with him and his plan, whether we like it or not. I want to be obedient to him and pray, "Thy kingdom come on earth." That is where our future hope lies, not in some worldly wicked government system! No matter who you vote for, our politicians do not have the answers! I want to pray in harmony with what God is doing! I don't want to be pulling in the opposite direction!

James chapter 5 talks about Elijah being a common man with passions and emotions like us, yet he prayed and it didn't rain for three and a half years, until he prayed for rain. Did he have this kind of power in prayer because he was a super-faith man? James is trying to make the exact opposite point. In I Kings 18:36 Elijah tells us the key to his answered prayers. He wanted rain as bad as anyone else and was suffering from no rain just like everyone else. But unlike others who were praying for what they wanted, Elijah was listening for what God wanted. When he prayed according to what God had in mind his prayer was answered. No matter how bad or hard it is, I want to be on God's side. I want to be in harmony with him! I fear this is not a popular position! Jeremiah certainly was not popular. He was even denounced as a traitor. Yet, he was right! He had the mind of God!

"If we ask anything according to his will he heareth us."

1 John 5:14b

Since I don't have good insight into the best way to resolve all the issues I pray about, I spend a good deal of my private intercessory time in the use of tongues. When I don't know what outcome to pray for the Holy Spirit knows. I trust him to make my prayers harmonize perfectly with what God wants to do. (Rom. 8:26)

May God help me and be patient with me in my selfish prayers that don't reflect his mind.