It’s true. I’m
done. If you added it all up, I’ve spent
hours, days…maybe months (I’m not that young, you know) praying things away.
“God, take away my temptation! Make it go away!”
“Dear Lord in Heaven! You know my co-worker is hateful, make
her hateful attitude disappear!”
“Sweet Jesus! Please, please, please take the pain away!”
Okay. Before everyone in the theological world (and I’m
thinking not a ton of those people read my blog) go ballistic…I believe God can
take anything away. I also believe in
the power He has to heal. I’m one of
those Holy Rollers. God can do anything
He wants.
But, when we pray for more of Him…well, can things that
aren’t of Him truly stick around?
Hmmmm.
Has God taken my temptation?
Well, I sure have less in certain areas of my life than I used to. Has God healed relationships with my
co-workers or friends? Sure. Has He healed me before? Miraculously. Goose bump stories, for real.
But, something I’ve been noticing is that even when He seems
to “take things away,” I’m no more prepared to face the next bad thing that
comes my way than I was before. And it’s not God’s fault. It’s mine.
You see, I’ve been praying all wrong.
Sure, I say things like, “Use this for Your glory, Lord.”
But, what I’m really saying is, “Please make everything perfect – like I think
it should be – and then I’ll be able to give you praise for all to see...with my fabulous life!” Ugh.
Look what I ran across last night…in my Bible. Of all places. Good stuff. Go figure.
Paul says, “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and
thankful. And pray for us, too, that God
may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ,
for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.”
Colossians 4:2-4.
Oh, boy. Paul prayed
for an open door for the message of the mystery of Christ. That supernatural
love, forgiveness, power. Notice he
never once asked for anyone to pray that his chains would go away.
Con. Vic. Tion.
We all know, but hate to admit, that our icky life moments
are when God shows up biggest and brightest.
The problem is that most of us would rather He just make everything
perfect so that we could say to the world, “Look, I’m not in chains. I’m living the easy life! Live for Christ and
things are super!”
Paul was more concerned with doing God’s will. Paul was more
concerned with God adding to him the strength he needed to deal with chains so
that the Gospel could go forth…than he was with the chains disappearing.
Paul knew God could use chains.
I love the good times. I could live on the mountain. But, it will rain on all of us. More than once. There are those of us who experience frequent
monsoons.
Some of the sin pulls I have will probably be jockeying for
position in my life until the day I die.
But, if I’m praying for God’s open doors, His grace, His love, His
power…those sin pulls will be pushed to the back corner of my heart’s room each
and every time. And I do believe, there are times they are pushed out altogether. No more room.
Some people will rub me the wrong way…all the days of my
life. But, if I’m praying for more of
God’s grace in my life…and in theirs…well, how can human attitudes top that?
Some illnesses will wreck our mortal bodies…and all of us (let
me channel my best Sunday School teacher voice here) “unless the Lord comes back
first!” will succumb to death. But, from
the moment we asked God to come into our earthly lives…and yes, take away our
sins…He began to build an eternal home for us.
We do ask for Him to take
away our sins. But, again…we also
ask Him into our hearts. We add Him. Can sin stay where He dwells?
I know this may seem like semantics. So be it.
But, today…I’m going to focus less on the chains and more on
the open door.
Are you praying for subtraction...or addition? Are you asking for the chains to go…or for the open doors to come?
www.diaryofacavewoman.com
Great post!
ReplyDeleteThanks! It's a constant redirection of prayer for me, but God is so faithful!
ReplyDeleteIm so happy about God opening doors. HE HAS opened many for Joel and I and we are thankful every day!
ReplyDeleteHe is so good in spite of us, isn't He?! I pray many, many more open doors for you two!!
ReplyDelete