Category Archives: Prayer

Good Editing

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When I got the chance to write a book two years ago (at left), it was a dream come true, and the long process of thinking, organizing, and writing was pure pleasure. Secretly I hoped for the chance to repeat the experience. Now that possibility is coming into focus.

Looking back to the first book, I see how critically important it was to be partnered with a good editor.

A hard working editorHer name was Miranda, and I learned more from her than I did in all my college writing classes combined.

Although writers and editors all work with words, they use completely different skill-sets, and Miranda’s meticulous critique was invaluable to my little book. If I do get to write another one, my highest hope will be to team up with her again, because expert editing makes the difference between a mediocre end-result and a memorable one.

All of us need our words edited once in a while, for example in our prayers. God knows that, so he makes two supernatural editors available to us. The first is his Holy Spirit and the second Jesus Christ. These two have never made, nor will they ever make, an editing mistake.

We should be deeply grateful for them, since they take the prayerful petitions we make to God and edit them into viable, acceptable requests he will hear and answer. Theirs is an awesome duty that benefits us daily. Scripture says the Spirit edits with sounds that are actually too deep for words but that God understands his specific groans on our behalf. And Jesus bridges the natural gap between us and God.

We edit.So why can’t we edit our own prayers? The truth is, we do, but it’s not positive. Let’s say he asks us to obey in a specific way and we respond with, “Ok.” But then we edit: “You know I’m only human, Lord. How ’bout if I obey half of that and let the rest go.”

Unacceptable editing.

In another example we might think, “God doesn’t really mean what he says. He meant to say…” and we fill in the blank in a way that doesn’t require too much of us.

More bad editing.

A good editor like Miranda will take the first draft of a book and raise questions with the author about words and concepts, listening to her rationale but sometimes insisting on changes. God does that too, as his Son and Spirit commune with him about us. Their editing makes our imperfect requests perfect to his ears.

An editor's workI hope I can work with Miranda again, but that won’t be up to me. Working with God’s Son and Spirit, however, is left completely up to us.

“There is one God and one Mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus. […and] we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” (1 Timothy 2:5 & Romans 8:26)

Coincidence?

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Bathtub drainToday I was the recipient of a personal touch from God.

I began as I always do, by filling the bathtub, but after sealing the drain and letting the water fill 2”, I noticed a grit across the bottom as if the bather ahead of me had stepped in with sandy feet. So I flipped the lever to let it drain, but it was a slow-go. This drain has been clogged for many weeks and by this time was down to a trickle. Waiting impatiently because I had a morning appointment, I looked at the clock to see how late I would be.

Those 2” of water took 9 long, annoying minutes to drain, reminding me I couldn’t put off calling a plumber much longer. Finally I filled the tub, planning to return later to rinse the soap scum away.

But when I had finished my bath and flipped the lever to open the drain, something incredible happened. The deep water in that tub whooshed out with force. Minutes earlier it had only trickled, but suddenly 13” of water was gone in 2 minutes!

Swirling drainI would have labeled it “just a lucky break” if it hadn’t been for one important factor. I share this with you, blog readers, knowing that “going public” might negate something valuable, but here goes.

In recent months I’ve been praying with passion about a stubborn problem that’s remained unchanged, and recently God reminded me that occasionally we should couple our prayers with fasting. Though I have little understanding of how fasting works, Scripture tells us two things: (1) the Lord sanctions fasting, and (2) it adds power to our prayers.

FastingThough the Bible says we’re to keep our fasts private, I’m sharing this story for one reason: to testify to what God did. These many months my specific prayer request has been for the Holy Spirit to “unclog” the thinking of a certain person, asking for a “breakthrough”. Then I committed to a one day fast, and on that very day an unexplainable rush of water “broke through” a “clogged” drain.

Coincidence?

I think God wants us to continually watch for him. He’s working all around us, and to catch a glimpse of him is a spiritual high like no other. Though I risk losing the benefit of my fast by way of this post, I can’t keep quiet about God and his ever-present activity. As a result of this morning’s whoosh of water, I believe he’s going to specifically answer my requests. I don’t know when or how, but you can be sure I’ll be carefully watching for him.

“Pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance.” (Ephesians 6:18)

Asking God

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This or thatIn recent years many of us have learned to ask questions in a new way. It goes something like this: “Would you like such-and-such, or no?” We don’t simply say, “Would you like such-and-such?” We add “…or no” to force the questionee to come forth with a neat and tidy answer. Subconsciously we want them to commit to yes or no, because the in-betweens can get complicated.

I’m ashamed to say sometimes I do the same thing to God. “Lord, do you want me to do this certain thing, or no?” I want a clear-cut response, because I don’t do well with “maybe” or “wait a while” or “we’ll see.”

The other day I received an email from our oldest son, Nelson, who is currently making his way from Russia’s Siberia to our home in Michigan. In the email he described an important decision he needed to make and as always, was asking God what to do. To quote Nelson:

So my prayer was, “Is it this or is it that?” And the answer was, “Neither.”

And therein lies the trouble with giving God an “either-or” choice. Because none of us know what’s about to happen, the best we can do is guess at a couple of possibilities. Asking God to make it “this-or-that” is like asking a child to draw a rainbow with black and white crayons.

God’s answers to prayer come in all colors, and he won’t be boxed in by our desire for black-and-white answers. Maybe the best way to ask for his opinion is with open-ended questions:

  • What should I do about this dilemma, Lord?
  • How do you want me to view these unexpected circumstances?
  • Which of your promises should I cling to during this crisis?

Answers structured by God will always outshine those we put to him requesting “this-or-that.” Nelson’s comment about God answering him with “neither” turned out to be the beginning of an important conversation between the two of them that produced a deeper faith-walk in Nelson. Had God answered with one of the choices of his “this-or-that” prayer, the whole faith-strengthening conversation that was initiated with God’s “neither” would not have occurred.

Our questionsPraying open-ended-ly teaches us to separate from our own limited ideas and encourages us to risk trusting the One who has the best answers to all our question marks. This means we have to approach him without suggesting how he should solve our problems.

As part of that process, he might come back at us with a few questions of his own, questions that will direct us to his answers of our original questions.

Our God is the God of the unexpected. Or, to put it more positively, the God of surprises. And if we insist his answers be “this-or-that,” we may not get any answers at all.

“Enthusiasm without knowledge is no good; haste makes mistakes.” (Proverbs 19:2)