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Perceptions #200132
"Don't Worry, Be Prayerful"
by Ron Newberry
Used by permission
Carolina Christian
connercced@surry.net"Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life," (Philippians 4:6-7, The Message).
In this text, written some 30 years after Jesus' ministry, Paul simply expands on Jesus' early teaching about prayer. The Lord had told the disciples that if they do not doubt God, they can do everything they need to do for the sake of the kingdom. Granted, He uses hyperbole to make the point by telling them that they could tell a mountain to jump into the lake and it would comply. But don't miss the point. "Absolutely everything, ranging from small to large, as you make it a part of your believing prayer, gets included as you lay hold of God," (Matthew 21:22, The Message). Or as the NIV renders it, "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."
Do we really believe these promises? If so, do we just believe them with our heads, or do we really believe them with our hearts? Do we believe them enough to practice them? Do we believe them enough to be bold in our prayers, not afraid to ask for what we believe we need that is compatible with the will of God?
Stop being anxious, Paul says. Pray and petition God. You will receive a sense of wholeness. Everything will come together for good. Do we believe that? Do we boldly rely on that promise? If so, then why do anxiety and worry grind down so many of us? Why don't we claim that promise for ourselves so that we can function better in the work of the kingdom of God? Why do we not embrace that promise for our church? Why don't we go to the throne of God with courage to lay our petitions at his feet? After all, God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power (2 Timothy 1:7).
There's a story of a ship that was being battered by a terrible storm. The passengers were terrified. There was screaming and weeping from everyone in the dining hall where they had gathered, except from one small boy who sat calmly on the floor. A passenger asked the boy, "Aren't you afraid young man? We could all die out here!" The boy smiled and said, "No ma'am. I'm not afraid. My dad is the captain."
None of us escape the storms of life. None of us are exempt from the hurricanes that wreck our lives every day. We just have the privilege of knowing that the captain is our Father.
The foundation of our prayer life is faith. We either pray with and in faith, or we are simply mouthing words. Praying in faith is not a matter of being worthy enough to pray, or good enough to pray. If that were the case, none of us would qualify! We pray because God is worthy and good.
Don't pray puny prayers. Nothing is too hard for God to do! Pray for what you need. God may grant just what you ask. However, He might say "no" to your request and follow it with, "I really want to give you something better than what you asked for." Sometimes He may say, "That's not good for you, so I won't give it to you. But I've got something here you're going to love that will take its place." At other times He might say, "Well, that's all right for you to have, but the timing isn't right. Let's wait until you're ready."
When you pray, don't doubt! Pray expecting God to answer. Pray in faith. Pray believing and trusting that God will do the right thing for you. He always comes through.