Pursue His Heart - AnnaKate Burleson
Full disclosure: I had a really hard time with this week's reading. I hate reading proofs. I don't know why. Maybe it's because the left side of my brain is completely and utterly useless, but things like proofs just take me forever to read. That being said, let's talk about the Lord's Prayer.
"Moreover, our prayer must be suitable, so that a person asks of God in prayer what is good for him. ...Many times our prayer is not heard because we ask what is not good for us."
This statement seems to be common sense, but how often do we find ourselves doing the opposite? Often times, we seek only for what our heart wants, and then feel disappointment or even resentment towards God when we don't get our way. But this quote from St. Aquinas' "Explanation of the Lord's Prayer" gently reminds us that we are in the wrong.
James 4:3 (NIV) states, "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on pleasures." In order for our prayers to be in right standing with God, we have to pray in a way that honors Him. We shouldn't pray simply to seek something from God but to seek after God. We should pray to press into who He is, not to gain something from Him. We should pray for Him to use us for his kingdom, not to use Him for our own benefit.
How, then, do we know for what we should pray? If we only receive what God wants for us, then how will we know if that's what we're asking for? To be completely honest, you probably won't. If you are soft and pliable to the will of God, then His dreams and your dreams will look the same. But more often than not, we aren't on the same page, and we pray selfishly. St. Aquinas reminds us in this passage to check ourselves and our intentions before we come before the Lord in prayer, and if He withholds something from us, know that it is only for our good.
moriah & zelda
"Moreover, our prayer must be suitable, so that a person asks of God in prayer what is good for him. ...Many times our prayer is not heard because we ask what is not good for us."
This statement seems to be common sense, but how often do we find ourselves doing the opposite? Often times, we seek only for what our heart wants, and then feel disappointment or even resentment towards God when we don't get our way. But this quote from St. Aquinas' "Explanation of the Lord's Prayer" gently reminds us that we are in the wrong.
James 4:3 (NIV) states, "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on pleasures." In order for our prayers to be in right standing with God, we have to pray in a way that honors Him. We shouldn't pray simply to seek something from God but to seek after God. We should pray to press into who He is, not to gain something from Him. We should pray for Him to use us for his kingdom, not to use Him for our own benefit.
How, then, do we know for what we should pray? If we only receive what God wants for us, then how will we know if that's what we're asking for? To be completely honest, you probably won't. If you are soft and pliable to the will of God, then His dreams and your dreams will look the same. But more often than not, we aren't on the same page, and we pray selfishly. St. Aquinas reminds us in this passage to check ourselves and our intentions before we come before the Lord in prayer, and if He withholds something from us, know that it is only for our good.
moriah & zelda
I wrote about this exact thing! I completely agree and I like what you said about how we often pray selfishly and about how we may not know what to pray for. God, is a mystery and we may not always know what he plans to do with us in our lives. But, if we pray that we are used for our purpose in this world to Him instead of praying for what we want our purpose to be, I think we could accomplish a lot more good in the world.
ReplyDeleteJesus offered a good example to answer your last question, fortunately, when He prays before His crucifixion... "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." Now, Jesus is God. He knew exactly what God's will was, in a way that we never will. He STILL mentioned His desire in prayer, even though it was blatantly contrary to God's will--but that's okay, because He made it clear afterwards that no matter what He wanted, He wanted God's will to be executed even more.
ReplyDeleteSo how do we know if what we want is in God's will? Trying to get to the point where our dreams coincide with His is a good mindset, but I think we could go a step further: it's getting to the point where we absolutely abandon our dreams to pursue His. We can have wants and desires that we aren't sure are in His will, and that's okay SO LONG AS we throw those aside at the drop of a hat should God lead us elsewhere. So when you pray, whatever you feel compelled to pray for, don't forget to pray for openness to His will regardless of how He answers.
Wow, great minds think alike! I wrote about this as well! It is so easy for us to get caught up in the things we want and forget to see if it is God's will too. I think this was a great reminder for all of us to check where our hearts are when we are praying!
ReplyDelete-Madison Flowers
Love this so much! "We shouldn't pray simply to seek something from God but to seek after God." Wow, what truth in that statement!! There is a song that I was thinking about as a read that line in your blog post. The song says something along the lines of: help me want the healer more than the healing, help me want the Savior more then the saving, help me want you Jesus more than anything. When we seek God and pray for His will in our lives those things we want will happen if they are apart of His plan! Great reminder! -Anna Grace Gay
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