Watchman Nee, writing on this passage, said, "The best prayer of all is not 'I want,' but 'Thou art.' " Oswald Chambers said, "The purpose of prayer is not to get hold of an answer but to get hold of God." The question before me, before you is, which of these "kinds" of prayers are most familiar? How much of our prayer life is about getting what we want, getting answers? As a pastor, I have listened to so many prayer requests, and have made so many myself. Far and away, the majority have been about receiving what was desired; healing, provision, safety, deliverance, and the salvation of friends and loved ones, are just a few. Central in all of them was the desire that He do or give these things, that He answer these prayers, and in the way that was hoped and asked for. Consciously or not, these types of prayers relegate Him to being a heavenly assistant, a facilitator, of and to our wishes. We know what we want from Him in prayer, but how well and how much do we wish to know Him in prayer?
Nee said that "Death is the power, the weapon, of the gates of hell." This power is constantly arrayed against the people of God. When our prayer life consists of trying to convince God to do what we want in the face of this power, we will be crushed if for whatever reason, He doesn't. This is why so many of us can cry out in victory, "God is good!" when He acts in favorable ways, but maintain a kind of sullen silence, even resentment, when He doesn't. Yet, when the deepest desire of our lives is not for the answer, not for the desired result, but for Him, then we can face all the power of darkness and death in the power, knowledge, and possession of His life. In the face of all of it, we say as did Nee, "Thou art Victor, Thou art Lord, Thou art King." We can say this because we know this. Not in theory but in reality. We can say it because more than the desire for an answer, we desire to get hold of Him, and when we do, we walk in the victory that overcomes the world, the darkness and the devil. We've discovered and are living in the power of "the best prayer." The prayer that wants nothing more, and will settle for nothing less, than laying hold of He who is, and who always is, Life, Light, and Victory.
So, what really marks our prayer lives today? A quest for answers, for the giving of "wants." or a determined, nothing but seeking of Him, who is, and will always be, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, the Messiah, the Answer, Jesus?
Blessings,
Nee said that "Death is the power, the weapon, of the gates of hell." This power is constantly arrayed against the people of God. When our prayer life consists of trying to convince God to do what we want in the face of this power, we will be crushed if for whatever reason, He doesn't. This is why so many of us can cry out in victory, "God is good!" when He acts in favorable ways, but maintain a kind of sullen silence, even resentment, when He doesn't. Yet, when the deepest desire of our lives is not for the answer, not for the desired result, but for Him, then we can face all the power of darkness and death in the power, knowledge, and possession of His life. In the face of all of it, we say as did Nee, "Thou art Victor, Thou art Lord, Thou art King." We can say this because we know this. Not in theory but in reality. We can say it because more than the desire for an answer, we desire to get hold of Him, and when we do, we walk in the victory that overcomes the world, the darkness and the devil. We've discovered and are living in the power of "the best prayer." The prayer that wants nothing more, and will settle for nothing less, than laying hold of He who is, and who always is, Life, Light, and Victory.
So, what really marks our prayer lives today? A quest for answers, for the giving of "wants." or a determined, nothing but seeking of Him, who is, and will always be, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, the Messiah, the Answer, Jesus?
Blessings,
Pastor O
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