Things I pray about you for...

Prayer requests are one of those amazing things that bless people in deeply personal ways. And they're also a way to see where we are in our understanding of God, each other, and life.

I used to like taking prayer requests at the beginning of a class time until I realized that, for some, it was feeding into an idea or view of God that wasn't healthy or helping.  That and it took almost half the class time before it was over each week.

I'm pretty sure those two paragraphs are probably really offensive to some people.  Like, how dare you speak of prayer and praying for people with such disdain?  And I do understand the offense.  I get it.

What strikes me is that through the New Testament, how little of that kind of language or talk exists, relatively speaking.  Their focus is WAY less on getting their personal needs met, to the degree it doesn't exist.

When Paul or others actually talk about what they're praying for regarding the people they write, it's often very different.  For example, "We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives".

This one line from Paul's letter to the Colossians is a general rule of what he asks for on behalf of growing believers, all the time.  

He doesn't ask for God to meet all their needs, heal all their infirmities, be with the hands of the doctors and nurses, for their church to grow, for someone's job interview, etc.

In a couple of places, Paul DOES tell people to bring everything to God they're concerned about, especially things that aren't allowing them to have peace at the moment.  And the point is usually, let God know what's bothering you and he will provide peace.

It's not to say God can't or won't answer our requests for specific physical or social things - I ask for those things all the time; daily, if not hourly.  God can and will do what he wants, when he wants.

It IS to say that, if we want a lot things that we're being taught, shown, and/or pointed to in the New Testament, it DOES mean we likely need to pray for some very different things than we normally ask for.

___________________________________________

Using the same passage from Colossians as mentioned above, we are often and regularly told that if and when we grasp some of these larger ideas and concepts about God, it will answer most all of our other questions and place all our needs, desires, requests, etc in a better light. We'll know what's important and what we can stop thinking about, worrying about, or obsessing over.

So, prayers like this..."We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives".  Are what I am praying more these days.  

And I also am working on replacing the word prayer with ask, so I'm clear about what I am doing with God.

When I pray this, I'm not asking for God to tell me whether or not we or I should do this or that so much, but for what the big picture is that is going on around me/us.

Too many times, we're asking multiple choice questions of God where we provide all the options that he can answer us in - which severely limits what we are looking for when God answers.  In reality in likely blinds us to any answer at all.

When I am asking God to fill me or you with the knowledge of his will through the wisdom and understanding the Spirit gives, it's a little bit larger than things like:

• What should we do with X, Y, and Z resources we've got or,
• I pray that our worship service is acceptable in your sight or,
• Help us to know what to do with ________ situation that's going on or, 
• Show us how to glorify you more or, 
• Help us to build our church and reach into ________ community, etc

There's nothing wrong with those requests, but they are things that show we don't have a good grasp of what the Good News that God has called us to know about, receive, and live out of.  

It's kind of like when the apostles asked Jesus, after the resurrection and before he ascends to heaven, "Hey Jesus, are you gonna do the things we are assuming you're gonna do now?"

His response is, "You don't really know what's going on still. Go and wait at this next specific place and then you'll get what you're supposed to do next." 

And they did.  And what they got there was NOTHING TO DO WITH what they are just asking Jesus about before he ascended.  What they got was such amazing stuff that it changed everything from that day forward and they didn't ask for those same old things, ever again, as far as we can see in scripture.

___________________________________________

That is what I am praying for/asking God for more often today than not.  That we all would understand the big picture, the genuinely good news that he's calling us to, so...

• that we'd understand the place he's already placed us,
• that we'd understand what he's done with sin forever and 
• that we'd do away with the idea that we can earn, lose, or regain our salvation by what we do, 
• that'd we'd understand what life is about so that we begin to place "church services" in their rightful place and not make them and other "church stuff" as important as we do
• that we'd see the larger things going on in his family and let it bring out our gifts/talents to serve,
• that we'd not feel unhelpful and unhealthy pressure from formal religious groups when they ask for our time and money to do things some leaders dreamed up that we may or may not have any interest in or that God doesn't affirm in our hearts as something important to invest in,

Things like that.

When Jesus taught his disciples to pray in response to their request, he taught them how to pray under the old law with old law assumptions BUT the general focus was and is still the same.

Jesus told them to ask God for his vision, his will, his provision without a laundry list of things we'd like to add to it.

Our Father who is in a place and whose presence we can only imagine;

we know you're there and you hear us.

You are different from us in ways we can only begin to understand.

We want what you want because we know that is what is best, 

show us what that is when we don't see it.

Please continue to provide for us as you always have provided for us.

Guide our hearts and minds because we're often misguided in what we want, think, and do.

__________________________________________

I think we're coming into a time and place in history where it's important for more believers to pray for a bigger picture than they've asked for in the past.

Not saying you can't ask for which college for your kid to go to or how you're gonna pay a bill, but certainly for a greater understanding of a larger context in which all those things are happening because the context God is working in IS larger and focused differently than ours.

Some of our prayer asks will simply go away - we'll stop asking about some of those things entirely -  when we understand the larger picture, the good news, and what his will or his blessing for us is.

__________________________________________

I remember in high school having a discussion with my mom about things I wanted to buy and have.  A class ring, money for prom, and a bunch of other smaller things that I was wondering and moaning around about.

Eventually she said, "You know, you can have all those things or you can have a car."  Say again mom?  "You can have a bunch of little things, or I can help you get you your own car."

Now, for those who grew up with the means and resources to get all those things at once, know that I didn't have that kind of resource available.  If you got something, it was because you worked for it, period.

When mom made her offer, she wasn't saying it's a free car, she was saying she'd take out a super low interest loan from her work, which she could, to pay for my car and I could pay her back from my job, over time.

Needless to say, I stopped asking for all those other things because I wanted the larger thing.  A ring?  Who cares?  Prom schmom.  I'll take the car.

__________________________________________

Perspective is everything.  

Paul prayed that people would get it.  

And that is what I'm asking God for these days.  

For myself and for you.

Grace and peace.