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.