How Do You Ask?

At the age of two, my little son is beginning to really get a feel for what he wants.  He is often times very particular about things, and if everything does not go "just so" a cry of outrage at the great injustice done to him by his insensitive parents in not following his exact will may be heard for miles around.

The thing is, that as a parent who love this child beyond words, I want to give Him what he wants.  It pleases my heart to fulfill his request and see my child happy.  Many times, I do just that.  For example, he may say, "Mama, wanna read a book with me?"  "Sure Eli," I say, "I would love to read a book with you."  I will sit down indian style on the floor, he will crawl up into my lap, and we will read away.  He's happy, I'm happy, and all is right in the world. :)

On the other hand, there are times when I am not able to able to instantly fulfill my son's requests. 
One of those times is when his request does not align with what is best for him.  Oh, he may think it is best alright.  Cookies and goldfish for breakfast, lunch, and dinner sounds like a great idea when you are two.  But as his mom, the one primarily responsible for making sure that he receives not only what his taste buds desire but also the nutrients his body needs, I cannot with a good conscience fulfill this request.  Cry and protest as he may, I cannot give him what is not best for him.  Say he wants to run into the street.  "Mama, may I please run into the street?" No matter how nicely or consitently he askes this question, my answer will always be the same...No!  I am willing to sacrifice his happiness at moments to do what I need to do to protect him and provide for him in ways that are best.

Another time that I may not fulfill his request is when his request is not a request at all, but a demand.  Often times, his demands will start out "I want..." or "Give me..."  One question my husband and I find ourselves repeating over and over around here is, "How do you ask?"  Today when we were leaving church, our son said, "I want a snack Dada."  "How do you ask?" said my husband.  After thinking for a moment, I helped him out from the front seat, "Just say, 'may I have a snack please, Dada?'" Sure enough, our little parrot repeated it perfecty, his demand changed to a respectful request, and we responded by fulfilling his request.

Sometimes this situation plays out differently.  Sometimes Eli makes his demand, and we respond with "how do you ask?"  In not immediately receiving what he wants, he begins to throw a fit.  The odd thing about this situation is that it was never our intention to withhold his request, we simply did not like the way he was asking.  The problem was not with the "what" that he was asking for, it was the "how."  Because he has begun to throw a fit, however, we must now deal with a bigger issue, his heart.

I'm sure that by now, many of you are following where I am going with this analogy.  I feel that latley God has been showing me so much about my prayers, requests, and responses to Him through my experiences with my son. 

First, He is my loving Father and delights in giving me what I want.  God loves to say yes to us.  He loves to have us come to Him and pour out our hearts to Him and ask Him for whatever we need.  He is an extravagant giver, He loves us beyond words, and just as a parents receives joy in blessing their children and seeing them happy, God loves to bless us!  In the Old Testament, for example, God appears to Solomon and basically gives him a blank check.  "At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, "Ask! What shall I give you?" (1 Kings 3:5)  In the New Testament, Jesus famously invites us to ask, saying, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." (Matthew 7:7) 

Certainly, God wants us to ask and He loves to answer us, but as anyone who has ever prayed has experienced, God does not always answer us immediately or in the way that we ask.  Could it be that you are specifically asking for something that is not best for you?  Do you spend your time repeatedly asking for cookies for breakfast or a chance to play in the street for a change?  In that case, God may be willing to deny your request and forgo your happiness for your own good.  Maybe you are asking for something that is good, but He has something different in store for you that is far better.  Will you trust Him with that?  Will you rest in the fact that He is your Good and Loving Father, and if your request is not being met that He has a reason behind it that is ultimately for your own good?  Trust Him, wait on Him, and worship Him in the process.

Or, could it be that you are not asking, but demanding your will from God, rather than submitting to His?  Could you be a little tyrant of a two year old, thinking that you know what is best and demanding that God do things your way, in your timing, and perfectly to your liking.  Check yourself in this, how are you asking?  Are you asking God for your own will, or are you asking God to conform your heart to His Will and praying according to it?  Maybe God is not yet answering you because He wants to train you and teach you how to present your request to Him respectfully.  Phillipians 4:6 says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."  Are you presenting your request to God with thanksgiving?  Are you resolved that no matter He responds, you will praise Him?  God may be saying, "How do you ask?"  He may not have a problem with the "what" at all...maybe the problem is the "how."

Another question to ask yourself is "how will you respond to His no?"  If you ask God for something and the answer is "no" or "wait," what do you do?  Do you let out a cry that God is unfair and unjust?  Do you think that He was unable to fulfill your request?  Do you get angry, believing that somehow, deep down, you deserved it and He either failed you or cheated you by not providing your request?  Do you think that God doesn't care, or maybe that He is just distant, mean, or harsh?
What is in your heart?  Examine it.  God already knows, and if your response is unfavorable when your requests go unmet, maybe God wants to get to a deeper issue in you and teach you a deeper level of trust in Him.

God wants us to take our requests to Him, to trust them fully to Him, and to rejoice with whatever answer He provides.  The only way to do this is to stop looking at the situation and to start looking at our God.  We will never understand everything that He does.  The Bible says, "Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable."(Ps 145:3)  His greatness IS unsearchable, we cannot understand it...do you trust that He is indeed great?  In all of His ways?  In everything?  In every answer including no or wait?  We are not called to understand Him, we are called to praise Him.  He is great, He is worthy of our praise.  Give Him the praise the He deserves, not because you get what you want, but because of who He is.  Trust Him.  Even if He has not answered your request, trust that He is a Sovereign, All Powerful, Omnipresent, Loving, Merciful, Gracious, and Good God.  Trust Him, praise Him, worship Him, because in the end this whole thing isn't really about us, it's about Him.

Oh Lord, we magnify You and exalt Your name.  You the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and we honor you as thus, Jesus.  We submit our hearts to you and ask that you will teach us to pray prayers that are not focused on building our own kingdoms, but on building Yours.  We trust You, Lord, and we love You.  We say, Jesus, that you are Faithful and True.  We submit our every care, concern, and request to you with thanksgiving and a resolve that however you choose to answer, we will praise you and we will trust You.  Ultimately, Jesus, we thank you that we have everything that we need in you.  And in the words of David, our hearts agree, "One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple." (Ps 27:4)  You, oh Lord, are our greatest desire; above all else, please give us more of You.  We make this prayer in the matchless name of Jesus, Amen.

My Messy House

Lord,
Tonight as I look around my house and see all that needs to be done, I thank you for the gentle reminder of how much I have to be grateful for.  Rather than seeing a house that needs cleaning, I thank you on this rainy night for a roof over our heads.  I see a messy kitchen and am so thankful that we have ample food to eat.  Many around the world will go to bed hungry on this very night.  Lord be with them and use me to help them in any way that I can.  I see clothes hampers full of dirty clothes waiting to be washed.  Thank you Lord that we have clothes to wear and so many to choose from.  I see five pairs of shoes that need to be returned to their closets.  Thank you for shoes to cover our feet.  Shoes are something taken for granted in our culture and our day, but I think about the many throughout history and in poor countries today that would consider a single pair of shoes to be a luxury.  Thank you for blessing me with comfortable shoes...may you lead me in your paths of righteousness that I might be a blessing to those in need.  I see toys to be picked up and little messes from my son throughout the house.  Oh God, thank you for the gift of our precious child.  We prayed and prayed a child, and you so graciously answered our prayer in our sweet Eli.  What a joy and a blessing he is.  Thank you that he is healthy and active, spending his days playing with toys and enjoying life.  Thank you for all of the material blessings you have bestoyed on us that he has to play with and we have to enjoy.  I think on the many who have never experienced the joy of having a child and have walked through years or possibly a lifetime of infertility.  I think of the many who have lost children and those who have children suffering from illness and disease.  My heart breaks for them, and I pray even now, Holy Spirit, that you will be their comforter...that you will indeed "restore their soul" (Ps. 23:3) and mend broken hearts.

Thank you for my many blessings, Lord.  I have so much.  I am blessed beyond words and beyond measure.  Thank you, oh God, for my messy house and all the ways it reminds me of your goodness and your grace toward us tonight.

In Jesus Name,
Amen   

If we REALLY believed?

Oh how our lives would look differently if we really believed God. About everything. All the time. Without fail.

As a Bible believing, Spirit filled, born again follower of Jesus, I would proudly profess that I really believe God. I could give you a whole list of things that I believe to be true. I could tell you about my belief in God, Father Son and Holy Spirit. I could tell you how I believe in His Word. That the Bible is the inerrant word of God...perfect and complete in every way. I could tell you about all of the promises of God and spout off scripture after scripture, and surely I believe all of that to be true.

But do I really believe it? I mean, REALLY. Enough to live it. Enough to trust it. Enough to rest in it.

Are you like me, dear Christian? Do you know it and believe it in your head, and so often fail to really believe it in your heart?

I say again, how different our lives would look if we really believed Him. Radically different! Drastically changed! Indeed, we would be a force to be reckoned with.


Here is a little taste of what we would be like if we truly took God at His word...

*We would be fearless! Oh the power of fear in this world. Fear of man, fear of failure, fear of heights, fear of death, fear of illness, fear of tragedy, fear of evil, fear of cockroaches (which I guess should go in the previous category...). How much time and energy we waste on misguided fear! I am preaching to myself here, as fear is my greatest foe against my trust in God. And yet, God is most certainly not silent on this issue. I cannot even count the number of times that God says "fear not" or "do not be afraid".
Isaiah 41:10 says "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

Isaiah 43:1-5 says "But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel, 'Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior...you are precious in My sight...you are honored and I love you...Do not fear, for I am with you.."

Go back and read that again and this time put your name in place of Jacob and Israel. Do you realize the vastness of this promise? If I truly believed this all the time and took God at His word, this alone would have the power to radically change me. And this is but the tip of the iceberg! If you struggle with fear (as I would suspect we all do at some level), I challenge you to go and look it up. Spend some time with God on this issue. Read His promises that He has given personally to you in His Word. And believe Him. You will not be the same.


*We would pray! From everything that I have learned about God and from God, I am beginning to realize something that is both incredible and overwhelming at the same time. I am beginning to realize just how BIG our God is, and that even my wildest comprehension of His vastness is but a drop in the ocean of the reality of it. God is showing me that He is so much bigger than I give Him credit for. He is all powerful, all knowing, ever present. Everything is His. Everyone is under His Authority. And this God, who is Mighty, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Victorious even over death, invites me to come to Him and pray. "Come," He says, "share your heart with me. Sit and visit. Tell me anything and everything. And no matter what, I will love you. I will help you. I will heal you. I will mend your broken heart. I will provide for you. I will protect you. Ask for ANYTHING in my name and I will give it to you (Jn 14:13)." Wow! What if we really believed that? What if we truly believed that the God of the Universe, possessing every resource and having all power, longed to hear from us and moved in power when we asked Him for things. I suspect that if we truly knew who He was and the incredible power that there is in prayer that we would be a people who prayed a great deal more than we do. Not out of obligation, but out of desperation and desire. That we would spend less time trying to fix things ourselves, talking about things, complaining, etc, and more time praying about them. Not boring, stiff, formal prayer; not "hurry up and pray so I can eat" kind of prayer, but intimate and passionate communication with a Powerful God who hears and responds.

How else would we look different if we always believed Him? We would always trust Him. We would be kept in perfect peace at all times, regardless of the circumstances. We would know that we are loved infinitely more than we can imagine by our Holy God, and freely pour that love out on others. We would bear no shame, but praise Him for the restoration and redemption that we have in Christ. We would love always, rejoice always, forgive always. We would be filled with the fruits of the Spirit, we would serve, we would love the "least of these." Our words would always bless, encourage, edify, and be seasoned with grace. We would build His kingdom instead of building our own. We would expectantly wait for His return and fervently share the Gospel with a lost and dying world. We would worship.

Oh that I could expand on every one of these and more. Some of you are probably surprised that I didn't, knowing how long winded I can be. :) My prayer for you and for me is that we will live like we really believe God. That we will take Him at His Word. That His word will not just be a book of stories and promises and good morals that we believe in our heads, but it would be a powerful, life giving, world altering force. I pray that we as we have a greater revelation of who He is and learn to really believe Him in our hearts, that He will transform us through the power of His Word and His Spirit and that we will be radically different for His Glory.