Is There a Right Way to Pray? (Part 3)
I don't know how many parts this is going to take, but again, just unscripted and thoughts I am just scribbling down as I go.
I was listening to a podcast by Andy Stanley this morning while on a treadmill and he talked about the routine use of prayer that we use as an antidote for consequences that prayer had no purpose in remedying. You know how it goes: "Lord, would you please help with ________ so that ________ and let _________ happen because you are so powerful."
There's nothing wrong about praying in times of need, but prayer itself won't make the problem go away. I'm not as eloquent as Mr. Stanley, so if you're interested in learning more click this link to download the podcast from iTunes.
But, when it comes to asking the question of whether or not there's a right way to pray, there's one prayer that we pray that I think is often misleading or misdirected to those who might hear it:
"Lord, would you keep us safe."
Safe?
Maybe you've heard it in this way: "Lord, would you please protect us and keep us from harm."
Now, again, there's nothing wrong with asking for safety. When asked by his disciples, Jesus even taught them to pray, "Lord, keep us from temptation and deliver us from evil" (Matt. 6 & Luke 11). But if you pray this prayer often enough you start to trick yourself into thinking that God's provision is evidenced only by God's preservation. In other words, we start to think that only when things are calm, at ease, and safe that God is present. So when teams go on missions to countries that are antagonistic towards Jesus Christ and are imprisoned or hurt, that couldn't be part of God's ways--could it? Of course it can, and I've seen plenty of evidence to prove that in the midst of hardship people's relationship with God grew and others were blessed. There's really no hard formula for figuring out how God works with things like this.
But if you wonder at Matthew 4, when Jesus was led into the desert by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil, some of you may wondering what this mean? Is this a contradiction from what we just read in Matthew 6?
I don't think so. I think this just points us to the reality that there is no way that we can have victory over temptation and be delivered from evil apart from Christ who overcame temptation for our sake and eventually died on the cross to deliver us from eternal death apart from Him.
We may be called to carry the cross and endure some difficulty and derision, but that is not beyond He who endured the cross and can deliver us.
So instead of praying for safety, if God is with you, why not pray for boldness instead.
