None of us would ever think of God as a one-armed bandit. Yet that’s often how we approach him in prayer. We keep putting our coin in the machine in the hope that at some point the lemons will line up and the jackpot will pour out into our waiting hands.
The greatest mistake we make in our understanding of prayer is when we divorce it from our relationship with God and turn it into something mechanical.
Prayer is not the offering of certain words to God in response to which God is obligated to produce certain results.
Prayer is an investment into our relationship with the Lord. We come to God not just to take from him but to give to him. Think of it as pouring water into a bowl. The water represents the expression of our love for him and our worship of him.
Relationships by definition are not built overnight. Prayer is meant to draw us deeper into relationship with the Lord far more than it is meant as a mechanism to receive his blessings on our lives. That is why it is often in the process of praying and not receiving answers that, by drawing us deeper into dependency, the Lord is able to show us we were asking for the wrong things.
Prayer does not change God. It may change circumstances. But its real goal is to change us.
One thing is certain. When we are properly aligned with God’s will, when we have heard his voice and adjusted our attitudes, God is committed to act. The reason is simple. As Jeremiah said, he watches over his word to perform it.
The reason it often takes a lot longer than we expected for prayer to produce results is because of the time it takes God to draw us deeper into relationship with him and therefore into alignment with his will.
There is a striking picture in Revelation of golden bowls full of the prayers of the saints which are being presented to God. And then later on the bowls are poured out, representing the vindication of the saints and God’s judgment on those who oppressed them, including the powers of darkness.
So keep pouring water into the bowl. At some point, though you don’t know when, the bowl will be full and will tip over. Long before that, you will already have received the precious treasure of deeper knowledge of God. And so in the end the answer to your prayers may be little more than icing on the cake.
Just keep pouring. What a tragedy if you gave up just at the moment the bowl was ready to tip over.
CONSIDER PARTNERING WITH DAVID & ELAINE CAMPBELL IN HELPING TO SUSTAIN THEIR ACTIVE MINISTRY.
AWAKENING MINISTRIES // FOUNDATION of FAITH Project
Foundation of Faith Project is strengthening generations in faith and bringing beautiful changes to the communities around them. Through teaching, mentoring and coaching, many are finding out who they are and who they are destined to be. They are bringing more to their world. David Campbell is the key leader in this initiative and you can support him financially directly through Awakening Ministries.
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