GodSprings - 14, March, 2018

Am I A Dictator When I Pray

Father if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but your, be done. Luke 22.42

E. Stanley Jones comments the following about prayer - “Prayer is surrender to the will of God and cooperation with that will. If I throw out a boat hook from a boat and catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me, or do I pull myself to the shore? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God.”

Analyzing our prayers we can see that we are always on the lookout of altering what God has ordained. There is no doubt that prayer is the medium through which we can ask God and put forward our needs and desires. We have a right to plead earnestly and ask for anything which we consider to be good but we err in doing so for, we go beyond the limits of sincerity and in the end it turns out to be presumptuous demands. 

Most of the time, I think, we dictate to God with the measure of blessing to be received. All of our prayers are answered. When blessing comes to us but not in the manner and shape we expected we again go to our knees and we complain that God has not heard our prayers.

When prayers are answered we fail to understand the spirit of the prayer because we are eagerly waiting for the words contained in the prayers.  

We must pray with the realization that prayer is not dictating to God, but a humble and heartfelt expression of our attitude of dependency and need.  This is what Jesus did when he prayed on the Mount of Gethsemane. Jesus was submissive to His Father’s will. Jesus was content with Him supplying his need according to the dictates of His sovereign pleasure.

God intensely desires that His thoughts become ours because we reflect His image this way. God answers every prayer, but not always in the way or when we think best. The story of the resurrection of Lazarus also brings out this point pretty clearly. Mary and Martha did not directly ask Jesus to heal Lazarus, though they clearly suggest it in wanting Jesus to be called. Jesus responds in an entirely different way from what they had anticipated. But Mary and Martha did not go into much detail in expressing what they needed. They just simply trusted that Jesus could and Jesus would do the right thing.

The prayer at the mount of Gethsamane also brings to light the fact that Jesus knew God would do the right thing. Let us leave the time, manner and approach to Him being rest assured that God will do the best in our life.

Dear Lord may we not wait for our time but be satisfied and contented with what you deem best for us – even though it be the cup of suffering or the cross. We come before you this day giving up our will and wanting your will to happen in our lives.