Month: January 2016

Can NO be an answer to prayer? Of course it can. Every NO answer does not mean “this is the final answer.” Sometimes NO can mean “you need to get your own life right before I can bless you.” Sometimes NO can mean “you need to wait a bit. Not yet.” Sometimes NO can mean “I have a purpose in your discomfort or pain. GROW into Christ-likeness as you wait.”

But then there are the YES answers. God says, “GO!” He gives His blessing and permission for what we asked. We prayed, our hearts right… our timing right… our motivation right… and God HEARD and then, perhaps even miraculously, DID what we had asked in prayer!

There is a caveat however. Sometimes answered prayer comes with a price tag. It opens the door to a new awareness of why we pray. It moves us to a deeper response to God in prayer. We realize He hears… we have a responsibility to ask.

Sometimes we pray for the salvation of a loved one or friend. And God says, “Yes, I want to save that person. Now the door is open… GO and tell them about Me.” Or in response to our prayer to be obedient to God in whatever it takes, He opens a “door of opportunity” for us and says “GO to the nations with the Gospel.” A “yes” answer to prayer doesn’t let us off the hook… sometimes it puts us ON it!

But whatever form God’s response to your prayer takes, I hope you never lose the wonder felt by the people of Israel who said,

“For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the Lord our God whenever we call upon Him?” (Deuteronomy 4:7)

We have a God Who invites us into intimacy with Him in prayer: “Let us come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)  What great privilege! What great power! What great potential! Come to Him with everything in prayer.

And trust Him with the answer.

“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” (James 4:1)

FOR REFLECTION: The old hymn reminds us “Oh, what peace we often forfeit, oh what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.” EVERYTHING. Is that what you are doing today?

Few of us think about “no” as an answer to prayer.  We feel rebuffed, turned down, or rejected when we don’t get what we had hoped as we prayed.  But God is gracious.  Even in His “NO” He is showing us mercy!

Sometimes we hear NO and it means, “NO, YOU are not ready for what you are asking for.”  Sometimes we hear NO and it means, “NO, the timing is not right for this yet.”  And sometimes we hear “NO” and it means, “I am doing something even in the unpleasant circumstances of your life to help you to GROW spiritually.”  “NO,” then, means SLOW…you need to GROW!

Often in the midst of the fiery trial we learn our most important lessons of being shaped and conformed to the image of Christ.  We remember it is the PRIMARY reason God saves us and then leaves us here on earth “that we may be conformed to the image of Christ.”  (Romans 8:26)

But the process of being conformed takes time.  It is not instantaneous; in fact, it takes a lifetime!  We somehow have bought a lie that says God saved us to make us comfortable and happy, when in reality God saved us to make us conformable and holy!

When Paul prayed in 2 Corinthians 12 asking God to take away from him a “thorn in the flesh” that was continually tormenting him and slowing him down, Paul received a gracious NO.  God’s gracious NO was, “Paul, I am not taking this thorn away from you.  It is my plan to allow your experience with it to keep you humble and to make you conform to the image of my Son.”

Sometimes, NO means GROW.  It’s time for us to stop expecting that God is just waiting for our next command to ensure our comfort and begin believing that, even when the thorn is sticking us, God is in control.

“My grace is sufficient for you.”  2 Corinthians 12:9

FOR REFLECTION:  Are there experiences in your life that you assumed were God’s refusing to answer you that you now can see were God’s grace toward you?

We have all been there in one form or the other.  Everything that’s supposed to be plugged in, turned on, tightened up and tuned in has been done…

But it still doesn’t work.

The computer won’t reboot
The iphone won’t connect to the wireless network
The lamp won’t light
The engine won’t crank
The screen won’t come on

…and on and on the list goes.  It happens.  To everyone.  Everything you think you are supposed to do to make it work; every carefully read detail in the directions (in three languages!) has been read and it still doesn’t work.

But most of us (except for the most anger-challenged among us) will try and try again before we throw an expensive phone, laptop, TV, or video game controller into the nearest body of water.  We’ll go through the directions… one more time (maybe in a different language this time).   And we’ll jiggle and re-tighten or call the tech support person in another country and change the battery or try a new cord.

So what happens when prayer doesn’t work?  When you feel the connection is not tight or, no matter how hard you try or how loudly you pound on Heaven’s door,  it seems no one hears and no one cares.  Is there a “tech support” person you can turn to or another set of instructions we can consult to find the problem?

Clearly there are instructions we can consult for just the moments we are talking about.  In the next blog, we will talk specifically about reasons our prayers don’t get answered.  But for a starting place let’s acknowledge that the primary purpose of our prayer experience with God is not about walking away with the “prize” we are looking for.  It is truly about the time we spend with God, even if something is in our life that is unpleasant, and we want it (or them) GONE, or something is NOT in our life that we believe is necessary if we are going to be happy.

But what if an unanswered petition is not an indication that our prayer life is broken, but that it need to be deepened?  What if God’s intent and purpose in calling us into relationship with Him as expressed in prayer is more about His desire to spend time with us than with granting us “three wishes” as though He were a genie in a bottle?

Sometimes I believe the thing that most needs “fixing” is our expectation of what prayer is really about.  What if “getting something” from God is the lowest level; the entry level of prayer… while being content when your prayer isn’t answered is a mark of maturity?

In other words, maybe a repair isn’t what is needed at all.  Maybe… it’s a relationship.

“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.”  (James 4:4)

FOR REFLECTION:  How has God used an unmet need or an unanswered prayer to deepen your walk with and dependency upon Him?

“… there is so much rubble….”  (Nehemiah 4:10)

All of us have moments of discouragement in life.  It comes in different packaging, but discouragement is visiting us when:

1. We are weary with praying.
2. We are afraid.
3. We are tired physically.
4. We are lonely.

Discouragement is an emotional virus, like a cold.  Sometimes a cold will pass after few days. Sometimes a cold becomes pneumonia or something that is critical and life-threatening. Sometimes we can face and fight discouragement alone.  Often it helps to have others walk with us.  And like a cold, discouragement can become contagious.  It spreads.

Usually discouragement hits our prayer life first.  We can walk into a challenging time or experience with enthusiasm but then we become distracted by the rubble.  We get our eyes on the garbage and lose sight of the end result of what we are to be about.   (See Nehemiah 4:10-11)

Another way we can know we are coming down with discouragement is by listening to ourselves talk.  Have you become critical, judgmental or negative in what you say or think about others?  Maybe you are suffering from a bout of discouragement.
The good news is discouragement, while painful, does not have to be terminal.  We can fight back.  There is a cure.  And interestingly, it centers on our prayer life.  Three thoughts:

1. Get your eyes off the rubble and back on to the Lord.  We can become so discouraged by the work piling up and assignments coming due that we just want to give up.  We’re looking at the wrong thing!  Prayer helps us re-center our lives on the ONE who is most important.
2. Rest in prayer.  That doesn’t necessarily mean sleep, but if your prayers calm you enough to allow you to sleep, maybe that is the most spiritual thing you can do! Perhaps you need to begin “prayer walking”(for spiritual and physical health!)
3. Wait on the Lord.  “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is fixed on you” the Bible says. Sometimes we think it’s all up to us.  We need to realize that it’s all up to God.  Don’t get ahead of Him.  Make sure you aren’t outpacing where God wants you to be!

FOR REFLECTION 

Heavenly Father I know that, for whatever reason I have gotten my eyes off of You and allowed discouragement to slip in. I confess I am tired and weary.  Help me realize that sometimes You make me lie down in green pastures in order to get my attention. Help me spend some time by those still waters that will restore my soul. I thank You today that I can be confident of this, that You who began a good work in my life will bring it to completion in the day of Christ.  I now commit to taking my eyes off the rubble and putting them and keeping them on the Savior.

In His great name I pray.
Amen