When I was younger, a relative of mine was injured very badly in the war in Iraq. I remember a conversation I overheard between him and someone who offered to pray for his condition. He told her to save her prayers for someone else, and not to bother praying for him. No one can know what is in another person’s heart. It could have been that he felt his own faith was so strong that he didn’t need to have someone else intercede on his behalf. It’s also possible he didn’t feel he deserved her prayers, and she should focus her efforts on someone more deserving. Or like many people who feel this way, but never speak it forth, perhaps he doesn’t believe in the power of prayer. He saw a lot of horrible things in war, and maybe he can’t reconcile all the suffering he’s witnessed with being spared of it himself.
Faith will bring every person to a place where they are faced with the decision to trust in their partnership with God, or deny it. The problems of injustice, poverty, and all the isms caused by struggles for power are deeply rooted in human history. It started with Adam and Eve. They demonstrated the propensity of humanity to doubt goodness even when they were surrounded by its purest and most powerful glory. They turned their backs on it, and therefore turned their backs on the partnership that God always intended to have with His children.
It is our nature to feel a deep sense of compassion when we see others suffer. We should want to do something, and prayer is the very best thing that we can offer. When we pray, we invite the power of God into a situation. In Luke 18:1, Jesus Christ tells us that we should pray always and never lose heart. The Apostle Paul tells us in 1Thessalonians 5:17 to pray without ceasing. This doesn’t mean that we pray 24/7—morning, noon, day, and night. God knows that we have work and responsibilities. His intention is that we develop a habit pattern of prayer. He also wants us to have a proper attitude of prayer, that when we come into His presence, we come with an expectation that He hears us; that He’s willing and able to help us.
You might think to yourself, well why doesn’t God just fix all the problems without our prayers. He’s omniscient, omnipresent, all-powerful, and sovereign. He knows what’s going to happen before it happens, and He sees details you and I could never see. Why won’t He step in and handle all the horrible situations we hear about and see, so that we never have to worry about anyone suffering and getting hurt again? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we lived in that kind of world? Heavenly Father started us off this way, but we had different plans.
1John 4:8 tells us that God is Love. This is His nature. He’s a very loving God. In 1Corinthians 13:13, He tells us that three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and love is the greatest of these. Love never fails, it never gives up; it’s patient and kind. Love never forces its way. Sometimes we think that God should force His way into situations on earth without any intervention from us, but He will never violate His Word. He will never violate His nature. If He did, we couldn’t count on Him to be a faithful and just God. We couldn’t trust what He says, because we would not be able to rely on His Word with absolute assurance.
In Genesis 1, our Heavenly Father is as transparent as can be about how things are to be governed on earth. He had a conversation with His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. He proceeded to create the first man, Adam, and made him in His image. Our Heavenly Father is Spirit, and He created us to be spiritual beings as well. He then breathed our spirits into our bodies, and man became a living soul. Genesis 1:26 gives us our marching orders. God tells us to reign in life, because He’s provided everything we need to get the job done. He spared no good thing in His provision for us. And when we messed up big time, He even gave His only begotten Son to die, so that we would have another chance to get this thing right.
God created us in His image. We have free-will and creative ability. The confusion and chaos we see in the world is a result of us using both these gifts to serve our own pleasure rather than to seek the Will of the Father. James 4:1(NLT) says, “What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you?” It goes on to tell us that we don’t have what we want because we don’t ask God for it. James 4:3(NLT) tells us, “And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.” God has a plan for the earth, and it is based on His love. This same love should be anchored in our hearts as His children. If it is, our greatest desire would then be to see to it that God’s agenda moves forward. Our motivation would be to do all that we can to partner with His Will.
God will not overstep His Will and Word. The psalmist wrote in Psalm 138:2(NKJV), “I will worship toward Your holy temple, And praise Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word above all Your name.” Again, God doesn’t ever violate His Word. He’s elevated His Word above His Being. He’s given us dominion to reign on the earth because that is what love does. Love shares! Love seeks to elevate and bless! Heavenly Father gave us authority in this earth, and He will not do a take-back. He created earth in such a way that spirits with a body are its legal residents, and we have all that we need to walk in the fulfilment of His purpose.
We are not servants. We are in partnership with God as His sons and daughters to get some things while we’re here, and prayer is the vehicle by which we bring ourselves in alignment with God’s Will and purpose. Prayer is not us trying to convince God to do what we want Him to do. It is us actively pursuing His heart in partnership with His purpose. We do this by asking Him, not to overstep His Will and Word, but to intervene so that His Will is done on earth as it is in heaven.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
“Understanding Our Partnership with God” written by JMack. 4theChristianMan.Com© 2018. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.