"Therefore I am saying to you, do not worry about your soul, what you may be eating, or what you may be drinking, nor yet your body, what you should be putting on. Is not the soul more than nourishment, and the body more than apparel? Look at the flying creatures of heaven, they are not sowing, neither are they reaping, nor are they gathering into barns, and your heavenly Father is nourishing them. Are you of more consequence than they? Now who of you by worrying is able to add on to his stature one cubit?"
Matthew 6: 25-27, Concordant New Testament
I was thinking this Thanksgiving as I watched another Minnesota Vikings win that I am really not in need of anything. Sure, I could pray that the Lord would provide for my needs, but He has already done that. I have funds to pay my bills and to keep myself fed and clothed. I am not foolish enough to not believe that God has provided for these necessities of life. So, what is it that I should be praying for? What is it that I need? Unlike many Christians, I don't see the prayers I speak to the Lord as simply a wish list for all I need in life. Doesn't God already know what I need from Him? If so, will He not provide these things I need in His due timing? In my heart this is what I believe. However, I wasn't always this confident that my needs would be met. I was raised in the mainstream church, where I was taught to pray to the Lord for Him to provide what I needed. The trouble with this approach is that it tends to reveal our loving heavenly Father as simply a gift giver, a blank check if you will. When things are going well, we have what we need and God is pleased with us. However, what happens when things are not going so well and we're lacking a few things we need? Well, the first thing we were taught to do was to search ourselves for some sin we were hiding which had upset the Lord (as if we could hide anything from Him). If we felt righteous enough, we then prayed to ask God why He had not provided enough for us. This, of course, turned into a never-ending cycle of prayer and expectation. For we eagerly expected that if we asked Him for something, that He would indeed bless us with that request. Well, I'm still waiting for that new Chevy Camaro! Why hasn't God answered my request for that new muscle car? Well, let me tell you, muscle cars don't do too very well in snow and ice and mud and such. I'm thinking that this is why He blessed me a few years back with a new 4WD truck. Not what I had been praying for, but definitely what I needed.
Do not worry about anything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
Philippians 4: 6, Concordant New Testament
When I prayed for that new car, I was taking something I learned in my years in the church and making use of it. Some refer to this as the "Name it and claim it" theology. We're told that we Christians are so favored by the Lord that we should dare to ask Him for the fancy things we dream of in life. I've seen people beseech God for expensive homes, cars and vacations. Many people in the faith continue to believe in this made up theology. We are definitely free to ask the Lord for anything. My contention is, what happens to our view of the Lord when what we ask Him for does not appear? Do we immediately feel as if we are being punished? That God is somehow unhappy with us? That we've sinned? This is the negative side of the name it and claim it teaching. Pastors want to whitewash the idea of asking God for fancy gifts, yet they cannot whitewash the reality when what we ask for does not materialize. I've seen more than a few believers retain a negative view of the Lord simply because they felt that He withheld what they felt they deserved. I've had my own experiences with the name it and claim it farce. When my mother lay in the hospital, I prayed that God would heal her and let her return home once again, which was her wish. Yet, when she passed away, I was immediately angry with God because He hadn't answered my prayer. In those first days after her passing, I didn't see the deeper meaning why God had responded in the way He did. My thoughts were about me. I wanted her healed. I didn't want to lose her. Soon after her memorial the Lord gently reminded me of the reason why He had called my mother home and not answered my prayer as I thought He should have. She was not free of the pain which had been plaguing her for so many years. Funny thing, one of the prayers for my mother before she passed was that God would remove her pain. That prayer was answered.
~Scott~
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