Millions of people around the world love to gamble. It is part of their lives. They arrive at the airport late banking on their charm to get them onto the plane in time. That is a gamble. Some do it with their money as they “invest” in the stock market. Some buy lottery tickets in hopes of the “big” win. Some go to casinos and try their hand at many different forms of planned losing, not their plan but the casino’s plan.
Some people think prayer is like gambling, never knowing if an answer will come. Their view of prayer is like putting money into a big slot machine and pulling the lever. They pull the lever (pray) and then wait to see if their fruits line up (feel something) and the answer drops into the tray (get what they wanted). This concept of prayer is so shortsighted and misguided. It leaves people empty and wake. It demeans their concept of God and of themselves.
John has a very different concept of prayer. He says we receive what we ask of God. We can get our prayers answered. Yippee! But there are some catches. John has been talking about walking our talk, loving each other with the same “lay down your life” kind of love that Jesus demonstrated. When this kind of love is present and known, our lives radiate the love of Christ toward others. We can know that our relationship with the LORD is solid and secure because we love each other.
So if we are in right relationship with God we receive. John puts two conditions on this receiving. The first is that we obey His commands. We can’t expect the LORD’s blessing in our lives if we are in rebellion against His authority. For John’s audience, they had a problem with loving each other. That was their Achilles heel. Ours might be different. But loving each other is never optional. We might not have a problem loving our brothers and sisters in Christ. But I can bet we have problems in other areas. I know I do.
John also focuses on our choice to do what pleases Him. This is where most of us get off track. We need to be praying for what He wants, not what we want. But this means we must be in tune with what He wants. If we ask for what He wants the results are guaranteed. That is the secret to prayer. Never pray anything that He doesn’t direct you to pray and expect a positive answer. But you can always pray what He directs you to pray and expect a positive answer.
We must do what pleases Him, and this includes the prayers that we pray. No plastic, rote prayers will do. They must be genuine conversations that grow out of our intimacy with Him and out feet in the world. We can wrestle in prayer about the injustices we see around us, the pain and suffering. But then we must, as the old-timers used to say, we must pray through. We need to pray until we are praying His will. And this is more than just saying the words, “Thy will be done.” I believe we can pray until things are resolved in our spirit to the point that we know we have heard from the LORD that the outcome for which we are praying is lining up with His outcome.
When we are in this posture we would never pray for something that was outside what He wanted. No husband, at least one who wanted to live a peaceful life with His wife, would go out and purchase a new Harley without discussing it with his wife. No wife would purchase all new furniture with consultation. Spouses check with each other, discuss it until there is agreement, then action is taken. Independence is not a characteristic of a healthy marriage relationship. Why would we think our relationship with the LORD would be any less.
So pray through.
The Arnold Journey 