Big Prayer Sticks and a Piñata God

Every once in a great while something becomes abundantly clear to me about life and the way the world works. Most recently it is this:

God is not a pinata, my prayers are not a big stick, and He will not spill out goodies from heaven if I just beat hard enough.

It seems to me that most people think praying is like writing a letter to Santa Claus. All too often I have fallen into the trap of believing that good little Christian boys and girls always get what they want if they do all the right things, behave the way God wants us to, and pray hard enough.

What a lie.

Where exactly did we get this idea? And why is this "gospel of prosperity" is so prevalent in our culture? We belittle God when get angry at Him for not giving us what we want. We are like selfish, bratty children demanding our way and then throwing a tantrum when God doesn't get with the program. And yet, we do. I know I do.

I am going to be 100% honest and admit that I am a selfish person and I wish life were easy. I do not want to struggle, I do not want to feel pain. I want everything to be happy and fun all the time and live a life of blissful luxury. And somewhere along the line I was deceived into believing that God was supposed to supply all that to me. But if God were nothing more than a genie in a bottle, a servant whom bent to my every wish, whim and want... He would not be God, would He? I would. And I know that when I am demanding my own way and expecting God to get on board that is exactly what I am doing: I am attempting to reverse our roles.

Lately I have been greatly challenged with the question if prayer does not change God's mind or cause Him to act, then what is the point of praying? Have you ever wondered that? Even as I typed those words the extreme rebellious, control freak nature of the thought was revealed. WE change God's mind? WE cause God to act? Oh, our hearts have not changed since Eden! Here I am, thousands of years later still trying to be like God.

Up until recently I have been somewhat mystified by the concept of prayer. I tend to be very trusting of God's word and most often even if I don't understand something I do my best to take in on faith that if it's in the Bible then it must be true. Since the Bible is full of commands to pray at all times in seasons for all reasons, I would pray. I did not always understand why I should pray, just that God calls us to do so.

Because His word promises it, I believe that God always answers prayer. Perhaps you have heard before that God's answers are either yes, no or not now. Maybe you have heard that too much, but I encourage you to not dismiss it as cliche. And if you have never heard that before, I encourage you to consider it now. I can think of times in my life when God answered yes, and I can think of a few times in my life when God answered not now then said yes later. I can think of many, many more times when God said no. Recently God has been telling me no a lot.

Alex did not get into the Air Force.
Terry did not recover from her cancer.
Our friend Jeff did not survive his car wreck.

I don't understand why. I may never, ever know why. And yet I still believe that God is good and that He cares for me. How can I? Because He walks with me. So often when we pray it is to ask God to take away pain, for us to be able to avoid suffering. In some ways I don't think there is anything wrong with that desire. If a person enjoys pain they are usually suffering from and emotional/psychological disorder. No one who has a healthy mind wants life to be difficult. But the fact of the matter is that no one can escape pain and suffering. Not even Jesus.

And that is when prayer becomes precious. During the deep valleys of our life, when everything is crashing down and it feels like it is too much to bear, God is the only thing in all of creation that can get us through the pain.

I don't have the eloquence nor the ability to effectively unpack the reasons for prayer. Below you will find a link to a sermon from Mars Hill Church in Seattle by Pastor Mark Driscoll. Alex and I listened to it recently and through it God granted me a better understanding of what prayer is and why we should do it. I encourage you to listen to it. It's long, but it's worth it. Download it and listen to it in your car the next time you have a long drive somewhere.

http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/pray-like-jesus/the-gethsemane-prayer

I will end by saying that I've come to understand that the purpose of prayer is not to make God get with my program, but to allow me to enter into His presence and have my will become aligned with His.

Why do you pray?