One
of the many things that I have found myself asking God over the last few months
is that He would teach me how to pray.
More than just the “Rub a dub dub, thanks for the grub.” I believe that there is power in prayer and
many times we just don’t get it. I have
learned a few things in the process.
Naturally
a good place to start would be in Luke chapter 11 where the disciples say to
Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Jesus
then proceeds to set an example for them that we are all familiar with. (I think every one of us has memorized it in
the KJV, but I am going to attack it in the NASB, just to mix it up a little.)
“Father, hallowed be Your name.”
Ok,
I get that. We want to be worshipping
God and lifting His name high above all others.
“Your kingdom come.”
Again,
this makes sense. I want God’s will to
be done and I want Him to be glorified.
“Give us each day our daily bread.”
Good,
now we’re getting down to food. I do
enjoy a good loaf of bread sometimes and….
Hang on a second! He said “Give
us each day our daily bread.” He’s talking about seeking Him every day for
our needs for that day. We can probably
skip that part. I mean, I can run down
to the grocery store and the only tough part is deciding if I want white,
wheat, rye, sourdough, seven grain, generic, name brand, French, parmesan,
garlic, Italian, seeds on top, split top, or brown. Actually I have been eating a lot of bread
lately and it sits on the counter so long it goes bad; maybe I shouldn’t even
get some bread. Hmm… What am I hungry for? Well, I guess I’m not really that hungry
right now. I did have kind of a big
breakfast.
I
think I see the problem. I don’t need
God. WHAT??????? Yeah I
think that’s the problem. I mean He did
that whole sending His son to die for our sins and I am thankful for that, but,
I really don’t need Him. I’ve got this all covered. If I need food, I go buy it. (Ok, Holly actually does that, for which I am
eternally grateful, but you know what I mean.)
If the car needs gas, I go buy it.
If its dark in the house, I flip the lights on. Too hot or too cold, I adjust the
thermostat. Sick, go see the
doctor. I think you get the
picture. What do I need God for?
This
got me thinking about the story of the rich young ruler. (Since we’re already in Luke, we’ll stick
with it, chapter 18.) I believe this
young man came to Jesus with the best of intentions. He truly wanted part of this eternal life
Jesus was speaking of. But Jesus saw the
man and knew what was important to him.
Jesus knew that the most important thing to this man was his
possessions, and he had a lot. So Jesus
tells him to sell everything he has and give it all to the poor. This is where Jesus brings out what is inside
the man. His priority was his
stuff. He didn’t need Jesus, and he
certainly didn’t need to ask him for his daily bread.
I
don’t believe that Jesus was sending the message that “stuff” is inherently
bad, but it definitely gets in our way.
All my stuff gets in the way of me getting to see God work. It takes away the need to rely upon God. I read a story of a man from Sudan who came
to the US and was in awe of how much we have.
(Paraphrasing here because I don’t have the exact quote.) He said “You don’t need God here. You come to church and flip a light switch to
turn the lights on. We have to pray for
those things.”
In
full disclosure, I sit here in my Lazy Boy writing this. In my nice warm house with a fire going in
the stove, and not a bit of hunger within me.
I probably won’t even be that hungry by the time breakfast rolls
around. So what do I do about this? How do I get to the place where I am relying
upon God? Well, for starters, if you are
interested in the nice warm house with the fire in the stove, let me know and
we can talk numbers. But this is part of
the reason we are trying to jump off the diving board and go to the mission
field. We want to see God move. We want to be a part of what He is doing
around the world. God has already shown
us that there is absolutely nothing we can do to get us there. I mean I could spend the rest of my years relaxing
in this nice house with four bedrooms, two baths, hardwood, dual zone heat
pump… ok, now I’m just shamelessly trying to sell it. But that’s not what I want. I want to live a life that is not safe, or
predictable, or comfortable. I want to
need God. That’s when we learn how to
pray.