Wow! A great paragraph on our relationship with God and how we should approach Him!

[daveleau]

I have a sister-in-law who believes that everything we want we can get through prayer, no matter what it is, irregardless of His will. I wholly disagree. This paragraph made me think of her and others with this new-held belief.

From Erickson's "Christian Theology" Ch 14- What God is Like, p326

"If we have fully understood who and what God is, we will see him as the supreme being. We will make him the Lord, the one who is to be pleased and whose will is to be done. This reminder is needed in our day, for we have a tendency to slip from a theocentric to an anthropocentric ordering of our religious lives. This leads to what might be called "inverted theology." Instead of regarding God as our Lord, whose glory is the supreme value and who will is to be done, we regard him as our servant. He is expected to meet all of our perceived needs and to answer to our standards of what is right and wrong. We need to learn from Samuel, whose response when the Lord called him was, "Speak, for your servant is listening" (1 Sam 3:10). He did not see this as an opportunity to pour out his concerns to the Lord saying, "Listen, Lord, your servant speaks." When we adopt the latter stance, we in effect make ourselves God. We presume to know what is right and what is best. In doing so, we take upon ourselves a great responsibility: to guide our own lives. But, it is God who knows what is best in the long run. He is the almighty and loving Lord. He has created us, not we him, and we exist for his glory, not he for ours. If we truly understood God's nature, then with Jesus our first concern in prayer will not be for the granting of our desires. It will rather be, "Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." "

 

[RED that's ME]

Great post

And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. And if ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it" (Jn. 14:13-14). "Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full" (Jn. 16:24).

A lot of people take those verses out of context thinking whatever we ask we will receive especially material things. If we ask for things that are *HIS* desires we will receive them.

 

[ZiSunka]

Wow! Wonderful! I needed that reminder!

God is not our cosmic vending machine, he is the awesome creator of our very being and owns everything about us, even each breath we take. We are not his god, although we act like he is our servant sometimes.

Thanks!

 

[daveleau]

I know I often have to stop when I am praying because I go straight from "Dear Lord" into a laundry list of requests. I try not to do this and try to begin by thanking Him for everything and then listening.
Glad you guys were as blessed as I was by reading this.

 

[SonOfThunder]

This leads to what might be called "inverted theology." Instead of regarding God as our Lord, whose glory is the supreme value and who will is to be done, we regard him as our servant. He is expected to meet all of our perceived needs and to answer to our standards of what is right and wrong. We need to learn from Samuel, whose response when the Lord called him was, "Speak, for your servant is listening" (1 Sam 3:10).

Thankyou for sharing that, "we regard him as our servant"

I need a reminder to be still, that he has thoughts of peace toward us and His will is perfect, to our expected end. That my attitude should be surrender and trust.

Thankyou


James

 

[CFoster]

Wonderful post! We can all use that reminder from time to time, I know I can.

 

[CMmom]

Wow, thanks!

 

[newlite]

sunday school...

green - yes
yellow - mabey / wait
red - no

thats really all i remember...i really aint a morning person...
come to think of it, im not really a night person either. i understood "Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." too many other words i dont understand though put together in an arrangment of sentences to small for tired eyes to see...

 

[Caedmon]

I agree.

The purpose of prayer is not so much to request things from God, as it is to be molded by Him.

 

[LostnFound]

I once had a co-worker who implied that I didn't have enough faith in Jesus because I was having menstrual cramps!!!! To make it worse, we were alone, on a night shift, at a convenience store! There was no escaping her sermon!!!

 

[fluffy_rainbow]

Excellent post! When I pray, I go to Him as I would to my earthly father. I say, "Daddy, I know right now I'm going through something my finite mind cannot comprehend, but I know you will not put me through more than I can bear so I ask that your will be done and not my own". Jesus Christ should be our best friend, the lover of our soul, our closest confidante, the source of our greatest love. Would you go to your greatest love and demand they do X, Y, and Z and mask your selfish motives by using big fancy words and "thee's" and "thou's"? No!

 

[C.I. Scofield]

I have a sister-in-law who believes that everything we want we can get through prayer, no matter what it is, irregardless of His will. I wholly disagree. This paragraph made me think of her and others with this new-held belief.

From Erickson's "Christian Theology" Ch 14- What God is Like, p326

"If we have fully understood who and what God is, we will see him as the supreme being. We will make him the Lord, the one who is to be pleased and whose will is to be done. This reminder is needed in our day, for we have a tendency to slip from a theocentric to an anthropocentric ordering of our religious lives. This leads to what might be called "inverted theology." Instead of regarding God as our Lord, whose glory is the supreme value and who will is to be done, we regard him as our servant. He is expected to meet all of our perceived needs and to answer to our standards of what is right and wrong. We need to learn from Samuel, whose response when the Lord called him was, "Speak, for your servant is listening" (1 Sam 3:10). He did not see this as an opportunity to pour out his concerns to the Lord saying, "Listen, Lord, your servant speaks." When we adopt the latter stance, we in effect make ourselves God. We presume to know what is right and what is best. In doing so, we take upon ourselves a great responsibility: to guide our own lives. But, it is God who knows what is best in the long run. He is the almighty and loving Lord. He has created us, not we him, and we exist for his glory, not he for ours. If we truly understood God's nature, then with Jesus our first concern in prayer will not be for the granting of our desires. It will rather be, "Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." "

There's a scripture to back this up, about not always getting what one wants: (I will post it in KJV and other versions as well...)

Jam 4:1-8 KJV From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? (2) Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. (3) Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. (4) Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. (5) Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? (6) But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. (7) Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (8) Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

and in a modern version:

Jam 4:1-8 NLT What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Isn't it the whole army of evil desires at war within you? (2) You want what you don't have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous for what others have, and you can't possess it, so you fight and quarrel to take it away from them. And yet the reason you don't have what you want is that you don't ask God for it. (3) And even when you do ask, you don't get it because your whole motive is wrong--you want only what will give you pleasure.

(4) You adulterers! Don't you realize that friendship with this world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again, that if your aim is to enjoy this world, you can't be a friend of God. (5) What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the Holy Spirit, whom God has placed within us, jealously longs for us to be faithful[1] ? (6) He gives us more and more strength to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say,

"God sets himself against the proud,

but he shows favor to the humble."[2]

(7) So humble yourselves before God. Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. (8) Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, you hypocrites.

That should support what you all are saying here.


CIS


P.S. and I suppose someone is going to disagree with it, as always, I won't mention her name, as she likes to disagree with everything I say. (you know who you are..)