Reality #4 Part 9 More on Prayer
The first thing you want to do is deny self. In all honesty with yourself and before God, come to the place where you are sure that your only desire is to know God's will alone. Then check to see what the Holy Spirit is saying in other ways. Ask yourself:
1. What is He saying to me in His Word?
2. What is He saying to me in prayer?
3. Is He confirming it through circumstances?
4. Is He confirming it through the counsel of other believers?
God never will lead you in opposition to His written Word. If what you sense in prayer runs contrary to Scriptures, it is wrong! For instance, God will never, never lead you to commit adultery. He always is opposed to that. Watch for God to use the written Word to confirm what you are sensing in prayer. Don't play games with God, through. Don't just look for a Scripture that seems to say what you selfishly want to do, and then claim it is God's will. That is very dangerous. Don't do it!
Have you ever prayed for one thing and gotten another? I have. Then some dear soul would say, "God is trying to get you to persist. Keep on praying until you get what you want." During one of those times I kept asking God in one direction, and I kept getting something else. In the middle of that experience, I started reading from Mark 2. That is the story of the four men who brought their crippled friend to Jesus to be healed. Because of the crowd, they opened a hole in the roof and let the man down in front of Jesus. Jesus said, "Son, your sins are forgiven you." Mark 2:5 I started to read on, but I sensed that the Spirit of God said, "Did you see that?" I went back and began to meditate on that Scripture. Under the guiding, teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit, I began to see a wonderful truth! The four men were asking Jesus to heal the man, but Jesus forgave the man's sins. Why? They asked for one thing, and Jesus gave another! This man and his friends asked for a particular gift, but Jesus wanted to make the man a child of God so he could inherit everything! I found myself weeping before God and saying: "Oh God, if I ever give You a request and You have more to give me than I am asking, cancel my request!"
What is happening when you Pray?
If I start asking God for one thing and something different happens, I always respond to what begins happening. I have found that God always has far more to give me than I can even ask or think. Paul said, "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever!" Ephesians 3:20-21
You can't even think a prayer that comes close to what God wants to give you. If God wants to give you more than you are asking, would you rather have what you are asking or what God wants to give? Only the Spirit of God knows what God is doing or purposing in your life. Let God give you all that He wants to give. "For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely give to us by God." 1 Corinthians 2:10-12
Suppose you wanted to start a mission church in a particular area of town. You have taken a survey to identify the needs. You have made all your long-range plans. You have asked God to bless and guide your work. Then God begins to bring to your church a group of ethnic people who don't live in the target area. What would you do? You might have these options:
1. I would "keep on keeping on" in my praying until God helps us start the mission church we have planned.
2. I would get frustrated and quit.
3. I would start asking questions to see if we should start an ethnic mission church instead of or in addition to the other one.
Do you know what I would do with that? I would immediately go before God and clarify what He is saying. If I have been working and praying in one direction and I see God working in a different direction, I adjust my life to what God is doing. In this kind of situation, you have to decide whether you are going to do what you want and ask God to bless it, or go to work where He is working.
In Christ,
David
1. What is He saying to me in His Word?
2. What is He saying to me in prayer?
3. Is He confirming it through circumstances?
4. Is He confirming it through the counsel of other believers?
God never will lead you in opposition to His written Word. If what you sense in prayer runs contrary to Scriptures, it is wrong! For instance, God will never, never lead you to commit adultery. He always is opposed to that. Watch for God to use the written Word to confirm what you are sensing in prayer. Don't play games with God, through. Don't just look for a Scripture that seems to say what you selfishly want to do, and then claim it is God's will. That is very dangerous. Don't do it!
Have you ever prayed for one thing and gotten another? I have. Then some dear soul would say, "God is trying to get you to persist. Keep on praying until you get what you want." During one of those times I kept asking God in one direction, and I kept getting something else. In the middle of that experience, I started reading from Mark 2. That is the story of the four men who brought their crippled friend to Jesus to be healed. Because of the crowd, they opened a hole in the roof and let the man down in front of Jesus. Jesus said, "Son, your sins are forgiven you." Mark 2:5 I started to read on, but I sensed that the Spirit of God said, "Did you see that?" I went back and began to meditate on that Scripture. Under the guiding, teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit, I began to see a wonderful truth! The four men were asking Jesus to heal the man, but Jesus forgave the man's sins. Why? They asked for one thing, and Jesus gave another! This man and his friends asked for a particular gift, but Jesus wanted to make the man a child of God so he could inherit everything! I found myself weeping before God and saying: "Oh God, if I ever give You a request and You have more to give me than I am asking, cancel my request!"
What is happening when you Pray?
If I start asking God for one thing and something different happens, I always respond to what begins happening. I have found that God always has far more to give me than I can even ask or think. Paul said, "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever!" Ephesians 3:20-21
You can't even think a prayer that comes close to what God wants to give you. If God wants to give you more than you are asking, would you rather have what you are asking or what God wants to give? Only the Spirit of God knows what God is doing or purposing in your life. Let God give you all that He wants to give. "For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely give to us by God." 1 Corinthians 2:10-12
Suppose you wanted to start a mission church in a particular area of town. You have taken a survey to identify the needs. You have made all your long-range plans. You have asked God to bless and guide your work. Then God begins to bring to your church a group of ethnic people who don't live in the target area. What would you do? You might have these options:
1. I would "keep on keeping on" in my praying until God helps us start the mission church we have planned.
2. I would get frustrated and quit.
3. I would start asking questions to see if we should start an ethnic mission church instead of or in addition to the other one.
Do you know what I would do with that? I would immediately go before God and clarify what He is saying. If I have been working and praying in one direction and I see God working in a different direction, I adjust my life to what God is doing. In this kind of situation, you have to decide whether you are going to do what you want and ask God to bless it, or go to work where He is working.
In Christ,
David
posted by Mark 1:17 at 2:28 PM
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