Praying In The Spirit
John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they
that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. 1 Corinthians 14:15 What is it then? I
will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and
I will sing with the understanding also. God is a Spirit and if prayer is a part of worship it also should be
done in the spirit, it also should be done with an understanding. Now the question that reveals itself again is what is
a spirit or what is in the spirit and what does the spirit reveals to us about
Matthew 7:7?
Growing up in the church I am familiar
with the preacher toning up and shouting, this was said to be the
spirit of God. Prayers were issued in the same vernacular and if the
person could pray, usually an emotional outburst followed. This was an expression of the spirit
also. When asked what does the spirit feel
like, the answer was, “when the spirit hit you, you will know it”. Cute cliché
and an in your face approach, demanding that God do things because you know
he can. When prayer requests would seem to go unfilled, there was always someone
to remind you that, “He might not come when you want him but he is always on time.” Now I know that
there will be those who chastise me for saying this but many suffering
souls have been stranded on the roadway of despair, waiting for God to come and
deliver them and God show up but he did not deliver them. When you are in need and you are taught all you have
to do is ask, Jesus message to the churches in
the Book of Revelation about enduring hardship is the furthers thing from your
mind.
I attended a high profile church service
where the focus of the service was to raise money for the
State Bishop. The minister in charge of the offering asked everyone to close their eyes an put their hands
on their purse or pocket book, while he prayed. My wife and I
followed his instruction. Laid off from my
job, we were in bad need of money. The church was uplifted thru his
praying and many chose that moment to get their praise on. After he finished praying, according to him,
God began to speak . God said, he began, “There is someone in here that has
a hundred dollars, even if that is your last hundred dollars, God said bring
it up here and lay it on the table and he is going to bless you with a blessing
that you will not have room to receive.” Next God began to call for those who had seventy five dollars, fifty
dollars, twenty dollars and ten dollars. I was depressed because
more than anything I wanted God to recognize my
measly five dollars. Finally he began God said there is somebody in here
who has five dollars and it their last five dollars, that was all I heard I was up and running to the offering
table. The next day I waited for the blessing that I was promised.
I had till until three o-clock to pay my light bill or my family would
spend the night in darkness. At three o-clock the Electric company shut off
my lights. Philippians 3:19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their
belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly
things.) This is what the Word of God says about those who abuse their
office and fleece the sheep of his pasture.
There are indoctrinated beliefs that are
used to promote Religion or Christianity. The indoctrination began at an early age and the subject of
faith is used to quell any question or dissent.
Growing up in the early sixties there were few people who would admit that
they did not believe in God. Yet many who were brought up praying
and going to church walked away from the church when they became of age.
The early sixties was also that time when the family structure began to deteriorate and prayer became the
most important child raising asset. Questioning the denominational and
doctrinal belief was ground for expulsion from the order. Modern churches
began to realize the threat of expulsion was having a reverse effect, began to bring in
changes that mimic their counterparts. The order of many
sacred worship services rival that of concerts or
night clubs. Church members sit in awe as they are entertained.
When I announced I was going
into the Hospital for cancer surgery there was an outpouring of prayer.
Ministers would stop by my Computer Shop and offer prayer for me. Their parting words was God
has already done the work, all I have to do is claim it. My older brother
who for nearly sixty years I have not been able to foster a sustaining relationship with, because I graduated ahead of him in school, prayed for me
and gave me a bottle of blessed oil . A hamburger and light
conversation would have sufficed and would have been more
sustaining. Another religious person stopped by, quoted the Bible,
prayed, shouted and spoke in an unknown tongue, leaving me with the message that I was healed, because he had the,
“Word of God in his mouth.”
After praying and begging God for my
healing I was left with the feeling that God had abandoned me. I went into the Hospital with the
promise from those who felt close to God that he was going to heal me.
The surgical procedure impacted my quality of life, the same as a
mechanic removing one set of bad brake pads, tying off the lines and telling me its ok to
drive my car. What God does is perfect and there is no need for man to tamper with it.
When I went to church I was expected to
testify that God had healed me. As I sit there listening to the pastor tell his
story of how God healed him after going through a triple bypass heart surgery, I was in no way moved
by his testimony. I knew I was expected to tell how I went into the
Hospital and God heal me, but it seems that for reasons known only to me, I
could not say, “I thank God for healing my body.” For me, if I
said that it would be trivializing God. I
just can’t wrap my faith around a God that send people
to the hospital so he can heal them and a God that was going to grant me eternal
life. I prayed for peace and God gave it to me. I prayed for understanding, I prayed for the
fruit of the spirit.
When my father was sick unto death I sat
with him on a daily base, and
watched pastors and church members as they stopped by and issued ferment prayers and demanded that God heal his
body. As his body began to decay on life support, the prayers and
visits began to cease. A lady stopped by our house while we we preparing the
funeral , she said she could have healed my father. A few Sundays later
a church lady gave an exciting testimony of how God healed her of a
headache. That was a praise break moment.
The use of prayer as a request for God to
intervene in all natural acts has left many ex-churchgoers in a confused
state. There is a need to reexamine the meaning of prayer and how pray is
used. There is a difference between prayer and just uttering words. We
might need to reexamine our prayers to see how
far we have strayed from God’s predefined order. Prayer is the offering of the
emotions and desires of the soul to God, presented in the name and through the mediation of Jesus. Effective
prayer is the communion of the heart with
God through the aid of the Holy
Spirit, and is to the Christian the very life of the soul. The Bible offers some
perfect examples of effective prayer. "Abraham's servant prayed to God, and God directed him to
the person who should be wife to his master's son and heir (Geneses
24:10-20). "Jacob prayed to God, and God inclined the heart of his
irritated brother, so that they
met in peace and friendship (Geneses 32:24-30; 33:1-4). Samson prayed to God, and God showed him a well
where he quenched his burning thirst, and so lived to judge Israel (Judges
15:18-20). "David prayed, and God defeated the counsel of Ahithophel (2nd. Samuel
15:31; 16:20-23; 17:14-23). "Daniel prayed,
and God enabled him both to tell Nebuchadnezzar his dream and to give the interpretation
of it (Daniel 2:16-23). "Nehemiah prayed, and God inclined the heart
of the king of Persia to grant him leave of absence to visit
and rebuild Jerusalem (Nehemiah 1:11; 2:1-6). "Esther and Mordecai prayed, and God defeated the purpose
of Haman, and saved the Jews from destruction (Esther 4:15-17; 6:7-8). "The
believers in Jerusalem prayed, and God opened the prison doors and set
Peter at liberty, when Herod had resolved to kill him (Acts 12:1-12).
"Paul prayed that the thorn in the flesh might be
removed, and his prayer brought a large increase of spiritual strength, while the thorn remained
(2nd. Corinthians 12:7-10).
Today God is not answering everything we
call prayer, yet we profoundly profess that God answers all
prayer. Sometime when we, “utter words” pray, I do not think the Father even takes the time to listen. Jeremiah
7:16 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor
prayer for them, neither make intercession to me:
for I will not hear thee.
Voices in the media and the church
claiming that prayer is the solution to the problems of the world
does not seem to be speaking in the best interest of the Father’s plan.
According to the testimony of Jesus Christ in the book of Revelation, the conditions
on earth is going to get worse before he comes back and cleans up the mess man
has made. Why must we approach our God with a list of requests and wait for an
answer? Why must a conversation with our father always be about our earthly needs? Does
God have needs? What does the spirit tell us?
Join in the fray, it going to get hot on the waters today.
You are welcome to add your comments or question.
No comments:
Post a Comment