“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” 1st John 5:14-15
Sometimes we as believers don’t quite understand the power of prayer. We send off astronomical prayers such as I want to be like Jesus, or Father I surrender all but don’t really understand what we are asking.
So many believe that their prayers are just shot out but never really grasp that the Word of God says that if you believe in your prayers they will be answered. I have to be honest and say that I have sent some astronomical prayers out their in my day and have wavered in whether I have believed them or not.
What the Lord is teaching me is that He hears all of our prayers and sometimes the answers to our prayers are not what we expect. We try and conceptualize how an answered prayer would look when in turn Gods plans are so much different.
Let me give you an example. When we sing the song I surrender all, do we really mean it when we shoot of the words or are we just trying to sing a pretty melody. I know it really checked me when I tried to grasp what I was saying as I sang the song. Well Father I do surrender all.
Ok, the next step to that is to actually think what that means. Do I give all of my desires, dreams, spouse, children, finances, occupation and needs over to our Father? Have I given 100% control over to the Father in these areas? Well, that is what we are saying when we sing these types of songs.
Another example in my life is that I have prayed to become so much more like Jesus. Jesus was God in the flesh as complete man. He walked the earth and went through the same things that you and I have gone through yet never sinned. He was completely un-offendable and lived the life of fulfilling the Fathers will.
In praying that I really didn’t comprehend what it meant until I was around 50 people. Right before my very eyes the Lord had given me a complete view of the church. How would I handle being around people that I loved, people that I didn’t so much get along with, people that shared the same views, people that didn’t agree theologically, people that worshiped the same ways that I did and people that disagreed completely with the style of worship that I had.
If I want to be like Christ, what would He do in this situation? We he allow what the church has done over 2000 years and split because of differences in theological matters, worship styles or personal preferences, or would He humble himself in love and go lower than the problem.
What the Lord has taught me about these prayers is they sometimes hurt. I have to be ready to surrender all and put other people before my very needs if I want to become like Jesus. Jesus said that whoever desires to be great among you must be his servant.
Jesus demonstrated this perfectly when He came to earth not to be served but to serve. It is sometimes so hard to grasp that concept but, the more and more I serve others I realize how much better it is to give than to receive.
