The Keys to Answered
Prayer always end up coming back to this: Do you
really want God’s will? Or, do you have a
preconceived idea about what your answer should be
and that is what you are praying for, straining to
see the manifestation of, and doggedly standing on
your faith to receive? Sometimes our stands of faith
are nothing more than attempts at spiritual
blackmail to get what we really want from God. The
“God’s Word says… and I’m standing in faith for it
until I get it!” type of stand. Perhaps you need to
ask yourself if your prayers are simply a form of
trying to get God on board with your plans.
Is your most focused time spent with God just to lay
out your needs and desires and hopes? Here is a very
true and practical prophetic word from Marsha Burns
(http://ft111.com/spiritofprophecybulletin.htm) for
today:
Marsha Burns -- March
24, 2008
The extraneous components of your life have
encroached on that which actually gives life and
vitality. You have allowed things that have no
eternal relevance to distract you from your
spiritual focus and purpose in My kingdom. I have
called you for such a time as this, but the enemy’s
plan is to corrupt the purity of My work in and
through you. Now is the time to be re-established on
your firm foundation in Christ and to renew your
commitment to fulfill your destiny in Me, says the
Lord. Be strong and courageous. Deuteronomy 31:6
“Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be
afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One
who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake
you.”
We all allow, even
embrace, things in our life that pander to our souls
(one example that comes to mind is television –
particularly American Idol and Dancing with the
Stars!) instead of strengthening our relationship
with God. Think for a moment about someone who
ignored you twenty-three hours and fifty minutes of
the day, but became kind and gracious and
complimentary when they showed up wanting something
from you (usually wanting it RIGHT NOW). God
probably does not measure whether He answers our
prayers by how much attention we pay to Him, but I
do know that He certainly does respond to those who
are eager to spend time with Him, to read about Him,
and to share about Him. He also wants to have our
ear when it is time to help us understand how we are
asking for the wrong things, struggling with the
wrong timing, or desiring something that will take
even more of our attention and time away from Him.
What about genuine,
even emergency oriented, crises where we truly do
need Him to intervene in our life circumstances?
There is a very interesting little story that has
been around for years, but it is quite appropriate
here. A man of strong Christian faith, John, was
warned by horseback rider galloping up to his house
shouting that the river was rising and a flood was
coming. The rider offered to let John ride with him
to safety. John said, “I’m a Christian and my God
will take care of me. No thanks, I’ll wait here for
His answer.” The water of the river began to flow
into the little valley where his home sat.
A small motorboat came
by and the man piloting it called out, “John, there
is a flood coming. Jump into my boat and we’ll head
for safety!”
John said, “I’m a
Christian and my God will take care of me. No
thanks, I’ll wait here for His answer.” The water
continued to rise and John had to hurry up to his
second floor to get on the roof. A helicopter flew
over his head and the pilot shouted down, “Get in
the basket and we’ll carry you to the top of that
cliff where you will be safe!”
John said, “I’m a
Christian and my God will save me. No thanks, I’ll
just wait to see what He is going to do.” The
helicopter flew off as the water continued to rise
around John’s house, even around John’s feet on the
roof. Finally the flood swept him away and he
drowned. When he arrived in heaven, John was upset.
The first thing he wanted to do was ask God why He
hadn’t saved him. He said to God, “Lord, I believed
in you. I told everyone that you were going to take
care of me. I kept waiting for your answer.”
God replied, “John, I
did answer you. I sent you a horse, a boat, and a
helicopter.”
How often has it
seemed to you that God was ignoring your prayers,
just like John felt He had ignored him in this
story? If you were praying right prayers, your
perfect answer did come from your heavenly
Father, but it probably didn’t fit your
pre-conceived ideas of what God would or should do
in your specific circumstance. There are times when
answers come, and they are so different from what we
expect that we reject them, saying, “My God wouldn’t
do that,” or “My God would never ask me to do that.”
Unless you are deep into working on surrendering
your entire life to God’s will, your soul will fight
against whatever God wants to show you and give you.
And, in spite of the prayers you pray or the
decisions you make, your God will still be doing
whatever He knows is best for you whether or not it
fits your concepts of His love, right timing, and
appropriate answers!
Perhaps a neighbor is
suing you over an issue that started small but grew
into a complication that seemed unreasonable to you.
You began to pray for God to resolve the issue (even
though you had not asked His help or advice about
the situation previously). God sends you a horse,
only it appears in the form of a Scripture speaking
of loving your neighbor. But you are still waiting
for God to send your answer! God sends you a motor
boat, only it appears in the form of someone
speaking to you about forgiving others. You think,
“That certainly isn’t the case of what needs to be
done here!” and you are still waiting for God to
send your answer. God sends you a helicopter, but
you are too busy hiring an attorney to countersue
your neighbor. The flood arrives in the form of a
verdict in favor of your neighbor and you are
astounded as to why God didn’t answer your prayers.
He sent you a horse, a motor boat, and a helicopter,
but your soul’s predetermined plans kept you from
seeing them.
God loves to hear your
prayers, except I wonder if He doesn’t sometimes
roll His eyes at whiney, self-focused, and soulish
prayers. Think about how you actually pray. Do you
run your list of everything bad being spoken about
you or being spoken to you, your unresolved issues,
even asking God to get even for you? Do you remind
God of all the things you are still waiting for or
all the things others have done to you and ask for
Him to give you justice at their expense? Do you
question God as to why you haven’t received
blessings like George or Sally; after all, you are
sure that you do more and give more to the church
than they do? God will patiently listen to you, but
often you have prayed things He simply does not
respond to when one of His children is having a brat
day. You know those prayers:
-
“God, please make him do this for me….”
-
“Lord, please let the court rule in my favor….”
-
“Jesus, make other people stop being so rude to
me….”
-
“God, please cause her to be really sorry for….”
-
“God, when are you going to stand up for me and
make him pay for….”
-
“Oh, God, that position (money, relationship,
answer, blessing) should have been mine….”
-
“Oh, God, Reveal her true colors and let others
know that she didn’t deserve this as much as I
did….”
God is able to answer
sooner when we can clear out our souls’ channels and
static to hear His voice. He blesses when we finally
learn to patiently wait for His answers, fully
trusting in His great wisdom, love, timing, and
plans for our futures. God answers when we pray for
blessings, strength, truth, and encouragement to be
poured out upon those we have felt were using us.
God answers when we pray and ask forgiveness for our
wrong feelings about others.
Have you ever thought
about how God may let some things happen to you to
reveal your own wrong attitudes, reactions, and
self-focus because He could not get you to listen to
Him any other way? Ouch, but true enough! God really
is more interested in the development of your
character and the surrender of your soul than He is
in making your day go the way you want it to. Pray
this prayer and tell God that you are sorry for your
impatience, your self-focus, and your attitudes.
Thank Him for the horses, the boats, and the
helicopters, and then work on loosing your
preconceived ideas and misconceptions about what He
should do to meet your needs. This is how you get
your prayers answered in new and exciting ways.
Thank you for helping
me to see beyond my own short-sighted requests,
Father. Help me to learn that you don’t answer some
of my prayers because I am not praying in love and
I’m not praying for your will to be done. I bind
myself body, soul, and spirit to your plans and
purposes for my life. I bind my will to your will
because I am choosing to obligate it to you. I bind
my ideas of timing to your better timing. I bind my
ideas about what I want and think I need to your
mind, Jesus. I bind my emotional reactions to the
working of the Holy Spirit within me.
Help me to recognize
that what I see as a delay is always allowing you to
work something out in me, in my circumstances, or in
the lives of those around me. Help me to accept that
you never put me on hold while you are talking to or
taking care of someone more “important.” I know from
your Word that you are interested in every part of
my life. The great God who created the universe and
everything beyond is watching over the tiniest parts
of my life every day. What a concept! Dear Lord,
that is unfathomable to me, but I love it.
Thank you for your
care and faithfulness that always cover me, even if
I am having a brat day. Forgive me for my brat days,
I am working on them. I want your best answers in
your best timing. Help me to always remember that
when the flood waters start coming. I might miss a
few horses or a few boats until I get better at
this, but I want to learn how to recognize when your
answers come. I loose all preconceived ideas and
misconceptions about how you should answer my
prayers and meet my needs. I loose wrong beliefs I
have learned to believe about who really is in
charge of my life. I loose all the distractions and
reactions of my soul, of the world, and of the works
of the enemy from my life. I feel freer already,
Lord. Bless you, Father, and thank you for what you
are doing. In Jesus’ Name, Amen
