Praying for things you want.

Jon_ said:

Essentially, I'm wondering what is the most prayerful form of prayer?

Click to expand...

The Lord's prayer is the Gold Standard, IMHO...

I don't know why, but as of late I find myself praying more and more that God just uses me to do his will. Maybe he is about to lay something heavy on me....

Jon_ said:

.........

On the other hand, David did this. David's prayers are full of him asking for specific things. A perfect example is the prayer he gave to God for his son with Bathsheba. He brokenly pleaded with God not to take the child, but when he found it was God's will to take the child, he submitted himself, and went and ate and rejoiced.

Click to expand...

I think the key is here. David does ask for specific things, BUT, he also knows that those specific things are not always granted.

Personally...when I do in prayer over things like what you decribe, I try to go with the knowledge that I may very well be asking for what I want, and not what God wills. So first and foremost, I ask for God's Will to be done, and then I ask God to make it a bit more obvious what His will is, so that MY will is superceded. Does that make sense?

When we "feel" like we need a new job,or anything else you mentioned, or just feel like we are being led to make a big change in life, we need to really pray about it specifically, I think, so that we can realize whether it is a real leading from the Holy Spirit, or whether it is coming from our own desires....

My conversations with God go alot more like..." OK, God, I really feel like I need to do such and such, or change such and such. Is this ME or YOU? And I'm real dense, so can you make it more obvious? Because I want to do what YOU want me to do, not what I want to do" (I'm not real formal with God....)

Anyway, hope that helps some!

Jon_ said:

Essentially, I'm wondering what is the most prayerful form of prayer? If I feel very strongly about something in my heart, should I pray to God for it, or should I simply ignore it, and pray that God's will be done? This is something I've struggled with for a little while.

Click to expand...

I don't think you should ignore it. It's not like God doesn't know the desires of your heart. He wants us to bring our petitions to Him. It is difficult for us though. I try always to be conscious of the reasons why I desire what I do. Is is for His glory or for mine? Regardless, I know that His ways are higher than my ways, and His wisdom so much greater than mine. If I ask and do not receive, it may be because I asked for the right thing for the wrong reason, or the wrong thing for the right reason. It could very well be that what He has in store is so much greater than what I desire and think would be great.

To give you an example, I spent much of last year working away from my wife and three young children...in another town 150 miles away during the week and only home on the weekends. At the time it was the only suitable work I could find. After a couple months, an opportunity came available back home...but it wasn't a "no-brainer." It was a decent job, but there were pros and cons to taking the position. After a tremendous amount of prayerful consideration, I felt led to continue working away from home and make arrangements to move my family to the new location. We spent a great deal of time looking at houses and put ours on the market to sell. Though we found some places we liked, we could not get anybody to even look at our house (let alone put an offer on it) for almost six months. It was difficult to deal with this situation, split between two cities and feeling like after being led to do it we were not being given any help at all.

Then, out of nowhere, another position at a different company came open back home. The interviews went well, the position was great, and before we knew it I was back home with a great job...a job which I would not have been as well qualified for had I not spend the extra time working at the other job out of town. He blessed us as a family tremendously through the experience...spiritually, emotionally, and financially.

So you see, asking for what is upon your heart, and going in the direction you feel drawn, may not always produce the results you anticipate or even hope for. But God's promises never fail:

Romans 8:28And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Psalms 37:25I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

Lord, won't cha buy me, a Mercedes Benz....
My friends all drive Porches, I must make amends......Janis Joplin....

Actually, I like this song by Garth Brooks:

Just the other night a hometown football game
My wife and I ran into my old high school flame
And as I introduced them the past came back to me
And I couldn't help but think of the way things used to be

She was the one that I'd wanted for all times
And each night I'd spend prayin' that God would make her mine
And if he'd only grant me this wish I wished back then
I'd never ask for anything again

CHORUS:
Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers
Remember when you're talkin' to the man upstairs
That just because he doesn't answer doesn't mean he don't care
Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers

She wasn't quite the angel that I remembered in my dreams
And I could tell that time had changed me
Inn her eyes too it seemed
We tried to talk about the old days
There wasn't much we could recall
I guess the Lord knows what he's doin' after all

And as she walked away and I looked at my wife
And then and there I thankedd the good Lord
For the gifts in my life

CHORUS

Some of God's greatest gifts are all too often unanswered...
Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers

Don Carson has written a great book on Paul's prayers called "A Call to Spiritual Reformation", and he talks very specifically about personal prayer. He goes into great detail about his prayer life, and how he organises it. He has a chapter on each of the prayers that paul prays in his letters. It is a fantastic book - reminds me I need to re-read it cause I can't remember enough of the specifics. It really changed the way I prayed, and encouraged me to pray 'better'.... more biblical prayers that were God minded and not erin minded... if you know what I mean.

I still don't hesitate to bring anything before him, but I try to think about what God would want for my life in those specifics.

I do a lot of open or close door prayers, asking God to make things clearer. It has taught me to trust him in that if a door is closed then it wasn't what God wanted and if it is opened then it is.... very vague I know, and still has to be looked at through the bible of course.... now I'm just raving, so I'll stop.

Jon_ said:

On the one hand, Jesus tells us to pray, first and foremost, for the kingdom. This is my primary prayer. I pray that God's will would be done. I shy away from asking for specific things that I know are completely contingent upon God's will (which is everything, really). I hestitate to ask God to give me a specific job, or a specific relationship because it seems inherently selfish to elevate my own desires in prayer.

Click to expand...

Christ himself prayed a specific prayer - what seems almost a 'selfish' prayer, in Gethsemane.
"Saying, Father, if thou wilt, remove this chalice from me: but yet not my will, but thine be done" Luke 22:42.
If Christ himself does this, it should be good enough for us! He pairs the two prayers - one for what he desires, and the overriding prayer that regardless of his desire, God's will be done.

Jon_ said:

Essentially, I'm wondering what is the most prayerful form of prayer? If I feel very strongly about something in my heart, should I pray to God for it, or should I simply ignore it, and pray that God's will be done? This is something I've struggled with for a little while.

Click to expand...

We have to be careful not to regard prayer merely as a spiritual excercise. In one sense, one form may be more prayerful than another, but if we llok at the model of the Lord's prayer, it is simple - even earthy. It asks for simple things like food as well as the coming of the kingdom.
God wants us to desire and ask for things that are good. He did not simply provide Solomon with wisdom, he asked him what he wanted most so that Solomon could ask for it himself, and be blessed for a desire that was in itself good. God shapes us through our desires, requests and petitions, and that, the honesty of that, is a key part of prayer - as is very clear when you read the psalms, which often petition, beg - even rail against - God. These have been selected as models for our own prayers and devotions, and we cannot take that lightly. Prayer itself can refine our desires when we pray for them, and Jesus did say, after all, that what we asked in his name, would be done for us.
Magi