When I'm thinking 'prayer' I'm thinking buckets. Buckets or categories or labels of prayers...
Red Bucket prayers in my head would mean serious cases like praying for someone very ill in the ER or ICU. Prayers related to serious emergencies on the Missionfield or Ministry. So this usually means intense praying for these cases like fasting and whole night praying. And praying everytime I think about the situation.
And then I have Orange Bucket prayers where its important but not so urgent. Like prayers related to unemployment or a family problem or board exams or an important interview. So I'll kneel and pray these prayers. With quite a degree of seriousness.
But then I also have a Yellow Bucket of prayers that I pray - for things like a promotion or a better job or a travel plan. And this one I pray enroute work. Just praying by and by.
When I pray prayers from the Green Bucket its usually very very relaxed prayers. I'm in my couch reading and pray casually for things like my desires. Half guilty and half ashamed about praying those prayers. I shy away and pray these with "0" or "no" intensity.
And after these years of following JESUS, I spent the last two weeks wondering "FATHER, when did I grow up? When did I get so 'mature' to think that only Red Bucket prayers impress YOU ? And since when did I start categorizing my prayers, petitions and requests assuming that this won't touch YOU and that will ???
GOD's been helping me burst these prayer myths:
1. GOD isnt interested in answering all kinds/ buckets/ categories of prayers
2. If I pray Green Bucket prayers fervently GOD's going to think I'm not growing up in my Christian walk.
3. GOD wants me to pray prayers related to Missions/ Ministries and HIS work above my desires.
4. GOD may or may not answer my prayers based on my personal needs. There is a 50/50 chance
5. Before praying for my needs I should look around and count myself blessed. How dare I pray for my allergies when another brother in church is terminally ill !
6. GOD has a quota on the number of prayers HE answers. If HE blessed me a lot in a given season I shouldnt expect any more.
These myths made my prayer life weak and ineffective. I slowly lost my passion to pray bold confident prayers for everything and anything imagining that the LORD finds such an attitude petty and childish.
I had been so busy categorizing/ labeling my prayers that I was often discouraged to ask my FATHER for things I wanted. Worried that GOD would view me as childish I stopped being childlike with HIM.
While we bucket our prayers HE stores all our prayers in a golden incense bowl in Heaven. There is absolutely no mention of urgency of prayers in the Bible. There is no mention of how many prayers GOD answers in a day, a week, a month, a year or in a lifetime. There is no data to support the myth that GOD answers prayers to heal faster than the prayers that seem petty to me. Or that HE ever told anyone not to pray a certain prayer. JESUS didn't tell the woman with the issue of blood that she was spiritually immature to expect a healing while a young child was so ill that she was going to die. Or to the blind man that he was silly to want to see when the KING of kings was going to die !
And somehow we all want to set aside praying for smaller needs instead of simply believing and expectantly believing and having faith in the ONE prayed to...
While I am not encouraging you to treat GOD as your vending machine, I'm asking you to approach the Throne of Grace boldly and confidently and make your smallest to your greatest requests known to GOD and HE has promised to bless you far above and beyond anything you can ever dare ask, think or imagine !
Red Bucket prayers in my head would mean serious cases like praying for someone very ill in the ER or ICU. Prayers related to serious emergencies on the Missionfield or Ministry. So this usually means intense praying for these cases like fasting and whole night praying. And praying everytime I think about the situation.
And then I have Orange Bucket prayers where its important but not so urgent. Like prayers related to unemployment or a family problem or board exams or an important interview. So I'll kneel and pray these prayers. With quite a degree of seriousness.
But then I also have a Yellow Bucket of prayers that I pray - for things like a promotion or a better job or a travel plan. And this one I pray enroute work. Just praying by and by.
When I pray prayers from the Green Bucket its usually very very relaxed prayers. I'm in my couch reading and pray casually for things like my desires. Half guilty and half ashamed about praying those prayers. I shy away and pray these with "0" or "no" intensity.
And after these years of following JESUS, I spent the last two weeks wondering "FATHER, when did I grow up? When did I get so 'mature' to think that only Red Bucket prayers impress YOU ? And since when did I start categorizing my prayers, petitions and requests assuming that this won't touch YOU and that will ???
GOD's been helping me burst these prayer myths:
1. GOD isnt interested in answering all kinds/ buckets/ categories of prayers
2. If I pray Green Bucket prayers fervently GOD's going to think I'm not growing up in my Christian walk.
3. GOD wants me to pray prayers related to Missions/ Ministries and HIS work above my desires.
4. GOD may or may not answer my prayers based on my personal needs. There is a 50/50 chance
5. Before praying for my needs I should look around and count myself blessed. How dare I pray for my allergies when another brother in church is terminally ill !
6. GOD has a quota on the number of prayers HE answers. If HE blessed me a lot in a given season I shouldnt expect any more.
These myths made my prayer life weak and ineffective. I slowly lost my passion to pray bold confident prayers for everything and anything imagining that the LORD finds such an attitude petty and childish.
I had been so busy categorizing/ labeling my prayers that I was often discouraged to ask my FATHER for things I wanted. Worried that GOD would view me as childish I stopped being childlike with HIM.
While we bucket our prayers HE stores all our prayers in a golden incense bowl in Heaven. There is absolutely no mention of urgency of prayers in the Bible. There is no mention of how many prayers GOD answers in a day, a week, a month, a year or in a lifetime. There is no data to support the myth that GOD answers prayers to heal faster than the prayers that seem petty to me. Or that HE ever told anyone not to pray a certain prayer. JESUS didn't tell the woman with the issue of blood that she was spiritually immature to expect a healing while a young child was so ill that she was going to die. Or to the blind man that he was silly to want to see when the KING of kings was going to die !
And somehow we all want to set aside praying for smaller needs instead of simply believing and expectantly believing and having faith in the ONE prayed to...
While I am not encouraging you to treat GOD as your vending machine, I'm asking you to approach the Throne of Grace boldly and confidently and make your smallest to your greatest requests known to GOD and HE has promised to bless you far above and beyond anything you can ever dare ask, think or imagine !
No comments:
Post a Comment