Prayer and Economics Part 2

Last week I wrote about the growing tensions that many of us are feeling between our income and our outgo. I want to encourage us to pray so I shared three key things that we need to keep in mind while we are praying: 1. God wants to meet our needs. 2. We need to make sure that we distinguish the difference between our needs and our wants. 3. We need to remember that during these anxious times God wants to hear from us and provide us with a peace that will see us through the situation.Today, I want to provide you with a few more thoughts that I hope will encourage you to pray.  

First, Let me encourage you to pray with confidence in God. The Psalmist indicates that this knowledge, that God is for him, encourages him to cry out to God, but more than that, because God is for him, his enemies will turn back (Ps. 56:9). Again, this confidence in God is expressed by the Psalmist in Psalm 86:7; "In the day of my trouble I will call upon you, for you will answer me." Look closely at this passage, there is a pseudo cause and effect relationship- Knowledge that God will answer him motivates him to pray. The New Testament expresses the confidence we have in God when we pray this way; "Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us (1 John 5:14)." Please take the time to note that this isn't a "get out of jail free card." It is clear that we need to bring our will in line with God's will. This brings us right back to being clear on the difference between our wants and our needs and to my second point- praying in submission to God.

Jesus sets the example for us to follow in praying in submission to God. In His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus prays, "Father if it is your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done" (Luke 22:45). Jesus expresses his desire to the Father, but He acknowledges to God that what He desires most is the Father's will to be done. His request is bracketed by the seeking of the will of the Father. It is hard sometimes to think that God's will for us is the best for us. We often think that we know what is best for us and that our wants and needs are reflected in that knowledge and that God should pay strict attention to what we want and need. HOwever, Consider your relationship with your doctor. You may have an idea of what you need medically, but you see your doctor because he has more  knowledge on the subject of medicine than you do. You may express to your doctor what you think you need and sometimes you are right. There are other times when you go to the doctor and there are other issues that you are unaware of and the doctor takes a different course of action. Ultimately, you heed what the doctor tells you because you have built a relationship of trust. We should pray like that, express to God what we think we need, but ultimately submit to His answers for us because we trust Him.

Finally, the only way we can pray in submission to the will of God, is to pray in humility. 2 Chronicles 7:14 says, "if My people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins and heal their land." Praying in humility means that in my heart I must acknowledge that God knows better than me what is best for me and what my are my real needs. But it also goes one step beyond that; praying in humility means that I yield my needs to the will of the Father. You see, when I humble myself before God I am also acknowledging that His will is more important than what I need and that brings us back to this question: Do you believe when you pray that God is for you or do you fear that He might let you slip through the cracks?

We all have room to grow in our prayer lives, but like the Psalmist, knowing that God is for us, should drive us to prayer in submission and humility because we know that God cares for us.

Gather and Go,

Pastor Dale