Recently I have become tired of praying for certain things. I have grown tired of praying for a jobs and financial needs, and for bills etc. I have found such a lack of life in these type of needs based prayers and the subject matter of it. It’s soo boring and depressing for one and it feels like a constant begging game with God, which is exhausting. Frankly, I have been provided for in ways that are just enough to get by, which on the scale of thing, that seems to be better than most. Though being that I have been not able to earn enough money to pay for all the bills that I have [ school debt, loans, and rent] I always have enough at least right up to the last minute. God’s provision sometimes is sort of like the moment of the Red Sea, it parts right at the last minute, right when the enemy is closing in. Though there is a flip side to it too where God provided an abundance of material, with the miracle of the over abundance of fish in the nets and in the water turning into wine story [ just to name two]
But I wonder if there is a priniciple, that “the need guides the miracle from God”. In that is seems like the need has to be real and in the moment, in the present tense in time. We often worry about “tomorrow” which Jesus was constantly preaching against. HE knew that the MOMENT, is all we have, and that all the power of God responds to the moment that exists in the here and now. We can not be anywhere but the moment. So I find [ for me] that God is has been answering only the things that are immediate and for the moment. This is frustrating, when we are putting our minds into an idea of “storing up” or even hoarding that we like to do in America.
[ On another note, Americans are now dealing with living day by day for needs instead of being able to store up and even have excess. We are having to respond to the economic times and be frugal like they were in the 1st Great Depression times. ]
With that said, I am shifting my prayer focus, not that it is a formula to persuade God or get Him to DO something for me or demand from Him things [ which seems like I have done, esp with needs] I just have found my self in such a defeated Spirit, when I am constantly begging and desperately pleading for basic needs in life. I find that these begging prayers result in lots of disappointment because we have all these demands and expectations of God that are not met and it is an unfilled sense of loss. This of course is a flaw in our thinking about what prayer and a relationship with God is all about to begin with. But there is a deadness to these prayers, and a dead end to the road that it leads to. If we were to get all our ” needs” prayers met , then what? What would then be the focus of our prayer and life? This of course is to say that our needs are not met, when that is really relative to what God deems as our “needs” which may seem like circular reasoning, being that if you were saying that “some thing only happens when it does” It’s redundant , and seemingly a simple observation of reality. If you take God out of that Equation you would essentially be saying ” things happen or they don’t” . But to put that variable on God and invoke Him in the matter, we are at least engaging another factor into the situation. This isn’t to say that we have any control or sway in the out come, simply the participation in the process.
Our own apparent needs are some times a distraction from the true meaning of life, and value of living. These things sometimes demand our attention as pressing needs, we need to combat the urgency of the mundane with the presence of the transcendent. I belive if we focus on the greater things, the smaller things will take care of them selfs so-to-speak, that is essentially as Jesus said:
Matthew 6:25-35 (Amplified Bible)25Therefore I tell you, stop being [a]perpetually uneasy (anxious and worried) about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink; or about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life greater [in quality] than food, and the body [far above and more excellent] than clothing?
26Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father keeps feeding them. Are you not worth much more than they?
27And who of you by worrying and being anxious can add one unit of measure (cubit) to his stature or to the [b]span of his life?(A)
28And why should you be anxious about clothes? Consider the lilies of the field and [c]learn thoroughly how they grow; they neither toil nor spin.
29Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his [d]magnificence (excellence, dignity, and grace) was not arrayed like one of these. [I Kings 10:4-7.]
30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and green and tomorrow is tossed into the furnace, will He not much more surely clothe you, O you of little faith?
31Therefore do not worry and be anxious, saying, What are we going to have to eat? or, What are we going to have to drink? or, What are we going to have to wear?
32For the Gentiles (heathen) wish for and crave and diligently seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows well that you need them all.
33But seek ([e]aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness ([f]His way of doing and being right), and then all these things [g]taken together will be given you besides.
34So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own. Sufficient for each day is its own trouble.
The last part is the key, when we seek “the Kingdom” of God, then ALL these things, these daily things, will be added to us. The Kingdom is first, but we seems to forget that and just go after the goods! We seem to be only interested in “looting the Kingdom” soo to speak, forgetting that we are already heirs to The Kingdom.
The domain of God, the Kingdom of God, in the sense, “the Higher things” the bigger picture, in the most abstract form ” the meaning of Life” — in the immediate sense it is the idea of participating in the things of God and seeking after those tokens of virtue that the Bible clearly spells out. Purity of heart, soul, body, of Joy, of peace , of Love ect. Seeking goodness as a whole, seeking our true “prize” which is Jesus Himself, the person and presence of Jesus in our lives. This is the thing that we should most be concerned about, following that, our daily needs , our daily bread [ literally] and all the things we are worried about for our physical well being.
If we want to actually engage in prayer activity in a way that is actually based in a reality of what is written, we must start with the Spiritual , and pay attention from there. That is where the physical world is manifesting from to begin with , that is where the source of life here originates from, that is why we must invest our attention and time , interest, and Love in to: the space where God is. That is why it says to ” store up treasures in Heaven ” to invest our heart into the Kingdom of God, because ” where our heart is , there will our treasure be also” – So there is a principle, a reality , a truth, that our prayers are “smarter” and more informed, more based in reality, when we are seeking the things beyond the temporal [ which rust , fade, die and degrade] and into the Eternal. Abstract as it seems , it will translate and you will see life unfolding before you directly from the source of all life.
Matthew 6:20-21 (Amplified Bible)
20But [a]gather and heap up and store for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust nor worm consume and destroy, and where thieves do not break through and steal;
21For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Philippians 4:7-9 (Amplified Bible)
7And God’s peace [shall be yours, that [a]tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall [b]garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
8For the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them].
9Practice what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and model your way of living on it, and the God of peace (of [c]untroubled, undisturbed well-being) will be with you.
My prayer is now this: ” God, show me LIFE and LIFE abundantly , show me Joy overflowing, and PEACE, overwhelmingly”. I am praying for the things that are of true value, friendship, Love, to see the beauty in God’s creation and in Imagination. There is sooo much to see and to experience that is good, so many blessings all around us already. We must focus on those things, and by doing that , others will also be enlighten to God’s goodness, and may desire to be set free from the dismal focus of pay-check to pay-check, conflict, greed, sadness and all the striving and stress brought on by the world’s lie’s about what life is about.
The bigger picture focus will help us really see the small things in the right perspective. Shift your focus. Focus on the good, not the bad. What ever you focus on you give power to , what ever you give attention to, you stregthen. Focus on LIFE ,pray for LIFE. Focus on Joy, pray for Joy. Focus on Love, pray for Love.
Let me know if this makes sense to you, and what your thoughts are too.
Thankful to Him
- Ben
