Friday 19 November 2010

Stop praying...... NOW!

Have you, as a Christian, ever prayed and asked God to give you the power to stop doing this or that, stop saying this or that ?
This week I got a clear word about why those prayers are just plain wrong.

A pastor friend of mine was once asked by a member of his congregation, who was struggling to get to morning prayer meetings, if he would pray for him to be able to get up and get there.
The reply from the pastor was an emphatic 'no' , followed by "use an alarm clock" The ball was back in the members court, the choice was his!
This may well be a more trivial matter but when it comes to sin it becomes more serious.
God has given to Christians the Spirit of holiness and of power....... and of self control. If we really believe that, and if we believe that we have one in heaven who intercedes for us, then it becomes much more about what we choose than what we pray.

If we continually pray about something when the means to achieve what we are praying about has already been given to us it will inevitably be a fruitless exercise. We are praying a prayer, the answer to which is already within our means because of what God has already done for us and given to us, in other words we are wasting time when we could be living the answer.
In many of these instances God's answer is already there - "don't pray, CHOOSE to use the resources I have already given you"
CHOOSE not to do that
CHOOSE not to say that
CHOOSE TO DO right
CHOOSE TO SAY the right

Some people won't like this message because it means we actually have to act as responsible agents under God, taking responsibility for actually doing what He has equipped and empowered us to do!
There are plenty of things to pray about that are well outside of any ability God has given us to answer them - pray about these things. We really must learn when to pray and when to CHOOSE AND ACT using the resources already available to us.
Many Christians and many churches will be a lot more aligned with God's will, therefore more effective, when this lesson is learned and put into practice - and that most certainly includes me!


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