Week Two – Wednesday,
March 26th – Keys to Answered Prayer #2

 KEY TO CHANGING HOW YOUR PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED

Sorry for the delay in getting this week's Prayer Key out to you. I was hospitalized for the second time in a month (for 5 days this time) with heart problems. Several of you have written by e-mail and even called by phone to find out where you next Prayer Key was. That is the most exciting and sweetest form of impatience that I have ever seen! Thank you for your attention to the Prayer Keys, and thank you for your prayers for my heart. As usual, I always end up "living" whatever I am stepping out to do in new areas of ministry. This is indeed fresh food, nothing from the cupboard or the freezer. I am sharing actual life teaching with you.

The Keys to Answered Prayer always end up coming back to this: Do you really want God's will? Or, do you have a preconceived idea about what your answer should be and that is what you are praying for, straining to see the manifestation of, and doggedly standing on your faith to receive? Sometimes our stands of faith are nothing more than attempts at spiritual blackmail to get what we really want from God. The "God's Word says... and I'm standing in faith for it until I get it!" type of stand. Perhaps you need to ask yourself if your prayers are simply a form of trying to get God on board with your plans. Is your most focused time spent with God just to lay out your needs and desires and hopes? Here is a very true and practical prophetic word from Marsha Burns for today:

Marsha Burns -- March 24, 2008
The extraneous components of your life have encroached on that which actually gives life and vitality. You have allowed things that have no eternal relevance to distract you from your spiritual focus and purpose in My kingdom. I have called you for such a time as this, but the enemy's plan is to corrupt the purity of My work in and through you. Now is the time to be re-established on your firm foundation in Christ and to renew your commitment to fulfill your destiny in Me, says the Lord. Be strong and courageous. Deuteronomy 31:6 "Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you."

We all allow, even embrace, things in our life that pander to our souls (one example that comes to mind is television - particularly American Idol and Dancing with the Stars!) instead of strengthening our relationship with God. Think for a moment about someone who ignored you twenty-three hours and fifty minutes of the day, but became kind and gracious and complimentary when they showed up wanting something from you (usually wanting it RIGHT NOW). God probably does not measure whether He answers our prayers by how much attention we pay to Him, but I do know that He certainly does respond to those who are eager to spend time with Him, to read about Him, and to share about Him. He also wants to have our ear when it is time to help us understand how we are asking for the wrong things, struggling with the wrong timing, or desiring something that will take even more of our attention and time away from Him.

What about genuine, even emergency oriented, crises where we truly do need Him to intervene in our life circumstances? There is a very interesting little story that has been around for years, but it is quite appropriate here. A man of strong Christian faith, John, was warned by horseback rider galloping up to his house shouting that the river was rising and a flood was coming. The rider offered to let John ride with him to safety. John said, "I'm a Christian and my God will take care of me. No thanks, I'll wait here for His answer." The water of the river began to flow into the little valley where his home sat.

A small motorboat came by and the man piloting it called out, "John, there is a flood coming. Jump into my boat and we'll head for safety!"

John said, "I'm a Christian and my God will take care of me. No thanks, I'll wait here for His answer." The water continued to rise and John had to hurry up to his second floor to get on the roof. A helicopter flew over his head and the pilot shouted down, "Get in the basket and we'll carry you to the top of that cliff where you will be safe!"

John said, "I'm a Christian and my God will save me. No thanks, I'll just wait to see what He is going to do." The helicopter flew off as the water continued to rise around John's house, even around John's feet on the roof. Finally the flood swept him away and he drowned. When he arrived in heaven, John was upset. The first thing he wanted to do was ask God why He hadn't saved him. He said to God, "Lord, I believed in you. I told everyone that you were going to take care of me. I kept waiting for your answer."

God replied, "John, I did answer you. I sent you a horse, a boat, and a helicopter."

How often has it seemed to you that God was ignoring your prayers, just like John felt He had ignored him in this story? If you were praying right prayers, your perfect answer did come from your heavenly Father, but it probably didn't fit your pre-conceived ideas of what God would or should do in your specific circumstance. There are times when answers come, and they are so different from what we expect that we reject them, saying, "My God wouldn't do that," or "My God would never ask me to do that." Unless you are deep into working on surrendering your entire life to God's will, your soul will fight against whatever God wants to show you and give you. However, in spite of the prayers you pray or the decisions you make, your God will still be working out whatever He knows is best for you whether or not it fits your concepts of His love, right timing, and appropriate answers!

Perhaps a neighbor is suing you over an issue that started small but grew into a complication that seemed unreasonable to you. You began to pray for God to resolve the issue (even though you had not asked His help or advice about the situation previously). God sends you a horse, only it appears in the form of a Scripture speaking of loving your neighbor. But you are still waiting for God to send your answer! God sends you a motor boat, only it appears in the form of someone speaking to you about forgiving others. You think, "That certainly isn't the case of what needs to be done here!" and you are still waiting for God to send your answer. God sends you a helicopter, but you are too busy hiring an attorney to countersue your neighbor. The flood arrives in the form of a verdict in favor of your neighbor and you are astounded as to why God didn't answer your prayers. He sent you a horse, a motor boat, and a helicopter, but your soul's predetermined plans kept you from seeing them.

God loves to hear your prayers, except I wonder if He doesn't sometimes roll His eyes at whiney, self-focused, and soulish prayers. Think about how you actually pray. Do you run your list of everything bad being spoken about you or being spoken to you, your unresolved issues, even asking God to get even for you? Do you remind God of all the things you are still waiting for or all the things others have done to you and ask for Him to give you justice at their expense? Do you question God as to why you haven't received blessings like George or Sally; after all, you are sure that you do more and give more to the church than they do? God will patiently listen to you, but often you have prayed things He simply does not respond to when one of His children is having a brat day. You know those prayers:

God is able to answer sooner when we can clear out our souls' channels and static to hear His voice. He blesses when we finally learn to patiently wait for His answers, fully trusting in His great wisdom, love, timing, and plans for our futures. God answers when we pray for blessings, strength, truth, and encouragement to be poured out upon those we have felt were using us. God answers when we pray and ask forgiveness for our wrong feelings about others.

Have you ever thought about how God may let some things happen to you to reveal your own wrong attitudes, reactions, and self-focus because He could not get you to listen to Him any other way? Ouch, but true enough! God really is more interested in the development of your character and the surrender of your soul than He is in making your day go the way you want it to. Pray this prayer and tell God that you are sorry for your impatience, your self-focus, and your attitudes. Thank Him for the horses, the boats, and the helicopters, and then work on loosing your preconceived ideas and misconceptions about what He should do to meet your needs. This is how you get your prayers answered in new and exciting ways.

Thank you for helping me to see beyond my own short-sighted requests, Father. Help me to learn that you don't answer some of my prayers because I am not praying in love and I'm not praying for your will to be done. I bind myself body, soul, and spirit to your plans and purposes for my life. I bind my will to your will because I am choosing to obligate it to you. I bind my ideas of timing to your better timing. I bind my ideas about what I want and think I need to your mind, Jesus. I bind my emotional reactions to others and to my circumstances to the working of the Holy Spirit within me.

Help me to recognize that what I see as a delay is always allowing you to work something out in me, in my circumstances, or in the lives of those around me. Help me to accept that you never put me on hold while you are talking to or taking care of someone more "important." I know from your Word that you are interested in every part of my life. The great God who created the universe and everything beyond is watching over the tiniest parts of my life every day. What a concept! Dear Lord, that is unfathomable to me, but I love it.

Thank you for your care and faithfulness that always cover me, even if I am having a brat day. Forgive me for my brat days, I am working on them. I want your best answers in your best timing. Help me to always remember that when the flood waters start coming. I might miss a few horses or a few boats until I get better at this, but I want to learn how to recognize when your answers come. I loose all preconceived ideas and misconceptions about how you should answer my prayers and meet my needs. I loose wrong beliefs I have learned to believe about who really is in charge of my life. I loose all the distractions and reactions of my soul, of the world, and of the works of the enemy from my life. I feel freer already, Lord. Bless you, Father, and thank you for what you are doing. In Jesus' Name, Amen

  
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