Nevertheless, I have tried to teach people a view of prayer that I think makes our communication with God more effective than we usually experience. Specifically, I propose that when we pray we should first ask God what does He want to do in a given situation.
Several years ago I was asked by a young husband to pray for his healing. He had brain cancer. He had been anointed for healing several times already by other pastors. He had undergone multiple surgeries on his brain. But the cancer continued to grow. At the same time, his father-in-law asked me to pray for his own healing (in addition to his son-in-law). He had serious heart problems and was taking massive doses of prescription medicine every day to keep him alive.
As I prepared for the service when we would anoint each, I felt very clear prompting from God: He seemed to say to me, "Do not pray for [the young husband] to be healed. I have already decided not to heal him." I was shocked to get such clear leading from the Lord. What should I do? The whole congregation wanted him to be healed. It would be an obvious show of God's power in this young man's life. But God said No.
In contrast, God seemed to say to me, "Do pray for [the father-in-law] to be healed. It is my will to heal him." Now I was really in a dilemna. The same people who wanted the younger man healed did not want the older man healed. (They had major issues with him it turned out.) But God said Yes to this man's request.
Many people do not seem to have the courage or faith to believe that God would actually lead this way. But He does--sometimes. And when he does, we must obey of course. But most of us never seem to ask what His will is, or if we ask, we fail to listen for His reply. So we end up praying something like this: "Lord, whatever is your will please work it out." Is that prayer? Is that faith? I will grant that it falls into the general category of prayer, because it is a communication with God. But it is not faith: It does not see what cannot be seen; it does not touch what cannot be touched.
God wants us to exercise the faith gift. He wants to reveal to our spirits what he desires to do in given situations. He wants us to ask, to seek, what He plans. Then He wants us to speak that plan into reality.
Thus, when I worked through Acts 9 recently, I stopped suddenly at verse 40 when I read: "Then he [Peter] got down on his knees and prayed. [Then after the prayer] Turning toward the dead woman, he said, 'Tabitha, get up.'" It seems clear to me that Peter first prayed to seek God's will. Not every Christian in the first century was brought back to life. So maybe it was God's will that Tabitha remain dead. Presumably, years later this latter scenario actually occurred. But this time, Peter had the sense that God wanted to raise Tabitha back to life. So then--after Peter received direction from God--then he could give the command of faith: "Tabitha, get up."
Please, let us stop praying, "Lord whatever is your will please work it out."
Please, let us start praying, "Lord, what do You want to do about this?" Then let us declare God's plan into reality.
Admittedly, God does not always tell us what he wants to do in a given setting. Or maybe we just don't hear/sense His prompting. That calls for another, separate discussion. But if we start asking God for His plans, He will occasionally reveal it to us.
What do you think?
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