Asking the Right Questions

Sometimes in the morning, I do a quick mental prayer: "Please be with me and show me what I must do.  I love Thee!" ...then I hurry on my way.  During the day I mentally turn to God and seek counsel and direction.  But as I get in a habit of these little "quick check-ins" I think I am not quite tapping into the true power of prayer.

It happened this morning. I was rushing out the door on my way to exercise, but in my mind was battling the highest and best use of this precious hour before seminary began. I already had arisen 20 minutes after I was planning on and was still waking up.  Running out the door, my mind was still foggy with how I should use this time.  Rather than my running mental dialog prayer, I stopped, dropped and prayed.  "Father, my heart is full right now.  I would like to use this morning wisely.  Do you have a better way for me to spend my morning time?"  A gentle answer: stay home.

I took my shoes off and headed back inside.  I knelt down for some serious prayer action, feeling a need for more direction...and maybe craving a little "one-on-one" time with the one who loves me most.

As I prayed, I sought to put into words the desires of my heart.  Have you ever done that?  Knowing that God can give you exactly what you pray for, have you ever really thought about what the true and deep desires of you heart are?  For instance, if your first quick thought is "money," the deeper answer is probably either "security" or "freedom," which God often provides in non-monetary ways.

Anyway, I sat there for a few minutes, trying to articulate what exactly it was that I wanted.  As my prayer continued, my heart was full of questions and answers came.  I knew that some of my answers would come later, trickling in through small means or in larger, more pronounced ways.  But I knew they would come.  

And then it occurred to me: we have to be looking for the answers to get them.  And in order to look for the answers, we have to first ask the question to know what we are looking for.

Prayer truly does help us to see what it is God has for us. If (and when) He blesses us and we are not looking for it, the answers often go unnoticed.  When that happens, we don't feel the love that comes with the His answers to our deepest needs.  Perhaps that is one of the reasons sometimes God waits for us to ask?

In order to see the way God answers our deepest desires (or even shallow ones!) we have to first ask the question.

Have you seen that movie where someone says, "That is the right question"?  Sometimes I think God is waiting for that from us.  

As I was pondering, I thought about a quote I recently heard about Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac.  God knew that Abraham would sacrifice Isaac, but Abraham needed to know how deep his obedience was to God. When we sincerely pray, we search our souls deep. How much do we trust this God we are praying to?  What kind of questions do we ask of Him?  What are the deepest desires of our heart?  

I remember as a young mother desperately pleading for patience.  As my patience was tried daily in painful ways, I cried out again and again for more patience.  It was only later, looking back, that I saw that God was indeed answering my prayer.  In order to get patience, we need to practice it.  The actual desire of my heart was that I wouldn't have any conflict in my home and that I would have mastery over my temper.  Boy!  God surely answered my prayers as He always will. It wasn't until I had a sincere heart to heart with Him about this "patience" thing that I saw that He was giving me exactly what I was asking for.

Prayer.  Yes, God honors the quick "check-in" prayer.  He heeds and answers all prayers in the best way. I think I have just been missing out on some direction, clarification of intent and peace that comes with actually kneeling down and spending some time with God.

The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that we must ask for in order to obtain.--Bible Dictionary