Have you ever asked the Lord to do something, and He did the exact opposite of your request?
Has that left you asking, “Why should I even bother praying? God’s just going to do what He wants regardless of what I ask.”
What is the primary purpose of prayer?
I believe it is meant to deepen our intimacy with Him.
It’s the means by which we learn to respect Him, know and submit to His will, declare our total dependence on Him, process forgiveness, and seek His deliverance, provision and protection for ourselves and others.
At salvation, by faith in Jesus’ work on the cross, our relationship with God was restored.
This enables us to communicate with God in prayer and for Him to communicate to us through the Holy Spirit and His Word.
How healthy would a marriage be if a couple never spoke with each other? Not very healthy!
At the same time, we need to realize that communication is a skill that takes practice.
If we approach God in prayer like He’s a spiritual vending machine – we insert our requests and God does what we ask – then we are going to be really frustrated.
Our objective in prayer should be to adjust our thinking so that it lines up with God’s thinking.
Here’s a an example:
What if Jacob prayed for God’s protection over Joseph before he left to check on his brothers. Well, Jospeh didn’t return safely to Jacob. His brothers sold him to Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt and sold him to Potipher. He rose to prominence as chief steward only to be falsely accused of rape and imprisoned. Again, he found favor with the jailor and wound up accurately interpreting the dreams of Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker. Eventually, Pharaoh had prophetic dreams and the cupbearer remembered Joseph, and he was summoned to Pharaoh. Through prayer, God revealed the meaning of Pharaoh’s dreams to Joseph, and he was raised to second in command of all of Egypt. Jacob sent his sons to buy grain and unbeknownst to them, they encountered Joseph. At this point, Joseph was faced with a choice: seek revenge or forgive. He chose forgiveness because he realized that what they meant for evil, God meant for good by sending him as their deliverer from famine.
God transformed all the evil done to Joseph into something better than if it had never happened.
God did protect Joseph his whole life, just not the way Jacob nor Joseph expected.
Beloved, remember: God sees the end from the beginning. We don’t.
Ask Him to show you His will for yourself and those for whom you are praying.
If you’re are praying for wayward loved ones, pray, “Lord Jesus, please bring all things into their lives to bring them back to You.”
Now, that is a scary prayer in the short run, but in the long run, if they come back to Him, all of His discipline is worth it.
Beloved, don’t give up on prayer!
Seek to get your heart to the place where you can honestly say, “Not my will, but Thy will be done.”
He knows what’s best for each one of us, and there is always purpose in the pain that He allows in our lives.
Blessings!
Robyn