The pitfalls of prayer…

September 23, 2010 The pitfalls of prayer…

I think we fall into 2 camps when we pray:

1- Naming & claiming anything you want in the name of the Lord. It’s pop psychology at best, heresy at worst. See something you want? Name it and claim it and it shall be yours! He is the King of the World and we are His (spoiled) children!

The problem is, we name and claim and don’t get it. Then, we not only look bad and not have what we want, we make God look bad. Defining “provision” narrowly is putting God in a box. He doesn’t like that.

2- Pessimism. My favorite.

I’m a natural pessimist. I’ve always known this (although I used to call it “being a realist”), but it was never more apparent than in the years I was a social worker. Those people are happy. They believe in people and motivate them. Many social workers I worked with were also “positive parenting coaches”– and let me tell you, nothing exudes happiness more than the celebration of your child’s mediocrity.

I thought a lot of my clients were being morons. I believe I succeeded as social worker because this belief forced me to give really practical advice because, honestly, I can be a moron that needs things to be spelled out.

Anyway, in prayer, as in life, pessimists just aim low. We all know that the nice thing about low expectations is rarely being disappointed.

Unfortunately, God doesn’t like that either. He’s a powerful God and we should treat Him as such.

So how do we avoid the pitfalls of prayer? A lot of the time, I don’t. But I’ve found that a relentless amount of dependence on the Holy Spirit is the key [Ro. 8:26-27].

He knows when to pray big or when to slow our role; when to speak up or when to shut up; when to bless and when to be a blessing; when to firmly encourage and when to lovingly rebuke; when to pray for prompt healing and when to endure the pain… Unlike our pessimism or possessiveness, whichever way He leads will make God look good as we trust that He is good. And because He’s good, He lets us in on His will. We morons get to know God’s will. Amazing.

I’m thankful God is not a pessimist. And I’m thankful he’s not a Big Daddy buying diamonds and dogs that fit in purses for his southern belle. He’s God.  He is indeed good.

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Tags: Me, Prayer

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