Today my reading took me back to John 11. You know the story. Mary and Martha send word to Jesus that their brother, Jesus’ good friend Lazarus, is sick.
Essentially, they are praying that Jesus will come and heal their brother.
Jesus delays.
When He finally arrives Lazarus is not only dead he has been in the tomb for four days. Jesus brings him out.
My takeaway today? When I pray, I normally have in mind how and when God will answer. Matter of fact my prayers are many times couched in those terms, almost, similar to Martha and Mary, a demand.
God may answer in the affirmative – by the way “no” is an answer – but as with the sister’s request, He may choose a different time and a different means. They expected a timely healing. Jesus brought their brother back from the dead.
My family has been facing four life and death situations for the past several weeks. That has been the reason there is such a gap in these posts here. I will be sharing some of what I have been learning through this in the next weeks. I am constrained by what I can share for I am honoring requests not to share details. But there are some lessons, especially in the area of prayer, that I am compelled to share…
Jesus delays.
When He finally arrives Lazarus is not only dead he has been in the tomb for four days. Jesus brings him out.
My takeaway today? When I pray, I normally have in mind how and when God will answer. Matter of fact my prayers are many times couched in those terms, almost, similar to Martha and Mary, a demand.
God may answer in the affirmative – by the way “no” is an answer – but as with the sister’s request, He may choose a different time and a different means. They expected a timely healing. Jesus brought their brother back from the dead.
My family has been facing four life and death situations for the past several weeks. That has been the reason there is such a gap in these posts here. I will be sharing some of what I have been learning through this in the next weeks. I am constrained by what I can share for I am honoring requests not to share details. But there are some lessons, especially in the area of prayer, that I am compelled to share…
Indeed, my prayers, too, often imply expected response.
ReplyDeleteI need to learn pray expecting God's best, and in accord with the Spirit, Ro 8.26-27.
I was wondering of the reason for the gap in postings, Mike. Glad you are back! Looking forward to hear whatever you have to share.
Thanks
DeleteI'm glad to see you at least you can catch a breath long enough to answer a bit. I feel sure a lot of us are praying for you and glad for a little info and direction. We will continue.
ReplyDeleteMy default response is figuring out what God needs to do in a situation and then "suggesting" that's what He should do. My success rate is very low.
I agree with Konstantin - the Holy Spirit is the One who knows what the Trinity will do and seeking Him for His mind is the way to pray. And when I don't know (how, which I admit more and more to be true, I can take great comfort that He IS praying for according to God's will.
But another question still remains: if God is going to do His will anyway, why bother to pray at all? Perhaps that will come up is a later exchange. In the mean time, I am. And I'm trying to pray according to all that I know the will of God is, might be, and what I long for it to be.