Say what?

The other day, week, time... (so that no one can guess what event I'm talking about... yeah that will work) I was with a group of people praying and I kept being really amazed by what I heard.

Not amazed in a good way like, "Meagan, congratulations you won a trip to the Grammys!", but amazed in a bad way like, "Did you know that there are over 360 calories in one Starbucks muffin?"

I kept thinking, what are these people doing? Why would they pray that?! In fact, in my head, I kept saying, "No God, no. Don't do that." or "Disregard that one too!" This brought on a full-fledged prayer crisis moment. My thoughts went something like this:

If one person prays one thing, and then someone else prays against it (someone being me!) do the two prayers cancel each other out?

Does the prayer of the stronger Christian trump that of the weaker?

Who decides who is the weaker Christian?

I'm I comparing my faith to others' now?

Yes, I am. That's a real bad idea, I should stop that.

Okay, but if someone prays something so obviously wrong, God must ignore it anyway, right?

Do I ever pray things that are so obviously wrong?

Should I do the opposite of a prayer recognizer and instead of saying, "yes, Lord" out loud to this prayer should I say, "I rebuke that!"

If I did say, "I rebuke that!" would the older people in this group think I'm a disrespectful young person?

Am I going to have to whip out some 1 Timothy 4:12?

If I'm almost 30 am I even counted as a "young person" anymore?

Who really says, "I rebuke that!"

When it is my turn to pray I better make it good to make up for these other prayers.

Wait... is it my turn to pray?

In the end I didn't say anything about it. During the prayer time or after. But it did make me think about the things that we pray and how glad I am that God is far, far wiser then I am.

All of us probably have had times when we pray out of misguided beliefs, out of fear of man or out of doubt. Do these prayers just go unheard? Do they just drift through space without God paying them any heed because we aren't praying according to God's will? Absolutely not.

Even in those times when we pray things that maybe we shouldn't pray, God hears us. And guess what? It is even better than that. It isn't that God just hears these misguided prayers shakes His head and thinks, "Oh, there they go again" and does nothing. He knows what we should be praying and answers us accordingly!

"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groaning too deep for words. And He who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." Romans 8:26-28

There is no reason for me to tell God to disregard what someone else said. No reason for someone to fear the words that are spoken over them. No reason for me to think my prayer got trumped or that if we pray wrong God doesn't hear us.

The Holy Spirit who lives inside His people intercedes for us according to the will of God! This also gives me hope for those times when I have no words to pray at all. The Holy Spirit intercedes for us with groaning that are too deep for words!

I love God. He has thought of everything. He has covered all the bases, so even when we mess up, in Him, we still win.

Where Did That Come From?

The other day I was trolling Twitter/Tumblr and came across a friend’s post that said something about how amazed they were that God gave them the answer to a prayer of theirs on the very next page of a book they were reading.

 My first thought?

“Yeah, that didn’t happen. God doesn’t do that.”

Wow, where did that come from? That thought went zipping through my mind like a comet before I even knew it was there, before I had a chance to pull it back and say, “Now now silly little thought, that’s not true.”

I tried to get to the source of where that thought came from. Did I really doubt God’s willingness to answer prayers? Had I given up on prayer? How did this happen? It isn’t like I went one day trusting that God listens to and respond to our prayers to waking up the next morning thinking, “God doesn’t do that.” It was a progression. A progression I had let go unchecked and unquestioned.

It started with, “God didn’t answer that prayer the way I wanted Him to.”

Then, “God didn’t answer that prayer at all.”

“God doesn’t answer my prayers.”

“God lets a lot of crap happen.”

“God doesn’t always answer prayer.”

“God doesn’t answer prayer at all.”

“You say God answered your prayer? Yeah, that didn’t happen. God doesn’t do that.”

I couldn't believe I had actually let all of that into my life. You see, that is how Satan works against us. He can’t come to us with a big ol’ lie and expect us to swallow it. He comes to us with little lies and half-truths and once we accept those he steps it up a little, and then a little more and a little more. Until before we know it we are living a huge lie that would have sent us running for the hills if we were originally presented with it.

Once I realized the lie I believed I began to see a string of untruths in my life. It went something like this:

“If God doesn’t answer prayer then I have to take care of myself on my own, by myself, without anyone else, alone. What the crap! I can’t do that. I can barely remember to check the mail! I’m in deep trouble. If I have to do this on my own then I’m stuck. My life has no purpose because even if it did I couldn’t accomplish it anyway. I’m useless and I’m alone.”

Yeah I know, a little emo, but that is how my brain works. Basically I went from, “God didn’t answer that prayer the way I wanted Him to” to “I am alone and useless”. I had been feeling that way for a while and didn't know where it came from. Of course this domino effect of lies might go another direction for someone else depending on other lies they are believing and what their personal weaknesses are, but you get the picture.

The truth is that God does answer prayer. And yes, sometimes things don’t turn out the way we wanted, but God is still God!

“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21

God has shown me where in my thoughts I went astray, now to reign them back in and give them to Him to repair.

What about you? Are there lies in your life that you believe and are living out? Anything in your life that brings condemnation or shame and not repentance isn’t from God. Maybe we all need to take some time to sweep out whatever lies we’ve let into our lives.