Reminders: Pray Like You Mean It!
by Ardith Hoff
A man was late for an important meeting. He was circling the parking lot desperately searching for a parking space. In exasperation he prayed, “Heavenly Father, if you will help me find a place to park, I will start going to church again.” Just then a parking space opened up right in front of him. The man then said, “Never mind! I found one.”
It’s a joke, but unfortunately, some people think of prayer as a personal wish list. We ask God for the thing we want at any given moment and expect God to give it to us. Then, when we do get something we want, like the man in the joke, we congratulate ourselves. Also, like the man in the joke, we bargain with God and promise that if only God will grant us what we want, we will make some concession, like promising to go to church more often. What’s worse, we don’t always follow through on the promises we make.
Jesus said, “Ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you.” John 15:7 Of course, in order to know the whole story, we need to know the context of Jesus’ promise. The first part of the verse reads, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you.” The ending says, “I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask of the Father in my name, He may give it to you.”
When we read the whole verse and know the rest of the story, it becomes obvious that Jesus was talking to his handpicked disciples, and the offer was not for creature comforts. We can’t say for certain that none of the disciples prayed for more comfortable sandals. But it seems likely that the implicit understanding was that the offer was to support the mission that they were about to embark upon. If they asked God to remove obstacles and open doors, He would do it. If they asked Him to soften people’s hearts, He would do it. It seems unlikely that any of them ask for anything trivial. And neither should we! When we pray, “Thy will be done” it is important that we know what we are saying and that we mean what we say.