Monthly Archives: April 2013

God’s Wish List

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Every Tuesday morning I meet with several other women for a scheduled prayer time around what we call an altar. Actually it’s just a Formica-topped table, but to us it represents a place where God is present in powerful ways.

Table

During our time together we claim his promise to hear our prayers and then one-by-one hand him 200+ requests, each one with a name and situation connected to it. After everything has been covered, nearly 3 hours has passed.

Faithful prayer can be hard work.

But God steadily rewards that work with glimpses of the wonders he’s performing, some the culmination of years of prayer, others a total surprise party. We’ve watched him heal terminal diseases, reconcile warring spouses, save lost souls, rearrange careers, shelter refugees, sell houses, and much, much more.

All of us have mental wish lists of what we’d like to see happen within our families, our schools, our friendships, the government, and our world. We want harmony in relationships, financial security, satisfying careers, and global peace…. for starters.

None of us has trouble knowing what we want, but what does God want? Sometimes we have trouble being sure of that. Although he invites us to bring our concerns, he puts restrictions on which ones he’ll answer in the affirmative.

Scripture says, “This is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.” (1 John 5:14-15)

Big “if”.

He’s saying, “If you ask according to God’s will, you’ll get what you ask for. Outside of that, no guarantees.”

For example, we can pray for a raise at work, but God doesn’t promise a yes. It’s possible he will give it, but he might prefer instead to produce spiritual riches through the experience of financial hardship.

As our little band of praying women thought about all this, we decided the only way to be sure we weren’t wasting time on Tuesday mornings was to pray “according to his will,” and thankfully Scripture lets us know what that is.

20 topics

So we chose 400 verses from the Bible, 20 for each of 20 different topics, each one in accordance with God’s will for all people. We put them on cards stored in mugs, ready for pulling during prayer times. Based on the needs, we ask for:

  • Perseverance
  • Discernment
  • Faithfulness
  • Gratitude
  • Hope
  • Reconciliation
  • Obedience
  • Forgiveness
  • Redemption
  • Love
  • Patience
  • Healing
  • Peace
  • Wisdom
  • Strength
  • Protection
  • Salvation
  • Joy
  • Servant-hood
  • Trust

And because God wants to develop these things in all of us, he faithfully says yes.

“The Lord said…. I am watching over my word to perform it.” (Jeremiah 1:12)

Is ignorance bliss?

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Last night I wrote a blog about “staying green” through life’s changes, even into old age, being mindful that God wants us to “bear fruit” no matter how old we grow.

Green leaves

In hunting online for an illustrative photo of green leaves, I found a pretty one that struck my fancy and used it in the blog. Although quite a few comments were left, no one caught the fact that the picture I posted happened to be marijuana leaves.

I didn’t realize that, but it turns out the younger generation caught it (my kids) and asked if I was trying to send a secret message through my choice. After all, of the thousands of green-leaf-photos that popped up on Google, that was the one I picked.

Although medical marijuana is legal in Michigan, I can honestly say I’ve never tried it, not for medicinal purposes or any other. As for recognizing its leaves, I haven’t been to a marijuana farm, and didn’t know what the plants looked like. Ignorance ruled.

When I think of my limited knowledge of marijuana plants, I’m aware that there are more things in this world that I don’t know than I do. Among those topics are God the Father, Son, and Spirit. I may know some things about them, but these three Beings are so complicated and have such depth to them that what I do know is barely bare-minimum.

The Bible tells of a remarkable example of ignorance within an unusually godly man who thought he was knowledgeable about the Almighty. It was Job. He didn’t understand why God had allowed his successful life to take a sudden turn for the worse and had some questions for him. Since God had referred to him as “blameless,” maybe Job figured it would be ok to ask.

But the Lord stopped him cold: “Who is questioning my wisdom with such ignorance?”

Ignorance

Job answered, “It is I — and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me.” (Job 42:3)

(I can relate.)

God follows that with a heated lecture detailing some of the unfathomable things he can do that Job not only can’t do but can’t even understand. And as we read through that long list, we nod in agreement with God. The Father, Son, and Spirit (and their ways) are, as Job says, “too wonderful” for us to understand. Next to them, we’re ignorant.

Yet despite that, the Trinity has chosen to share some of themselves with us, making a special effort to explain the intense love they feel for us. I may be ignorant, but “love” I understand. I also comprehend that this love makes all the difference in the world, both in this world and the next.

And ignorant or not, I know one thing: bliss is coming.

“No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” (Matthew 11:27)

 

Out with the Old

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Out with the oldLife is full of new beginnings, which usually means the ending of something else. This week baby Emerald ended her night-time partnership with a bassinet and began sleeping in a larger bed.

 

In with the newBirgitta chose a Pack ‘n Play over a traditional crib for now, and Emerald is appreciating its soft sides. The first night in her new bed we heard her fingers scraping at the netting, exploring her new surroundings with curiosity.

Babies probably experience more endings/beginnings in the first year of their lives than they will in any other year, and they usually do it with eagerness. It seems as soon as Emerald gets used to something (like her Bumbo seat), she’s nearly done with it. This week she’s practicing sitting on her own and when placed in the Bumbo squirms left and right to get out of it.

Bumbo baby

But babies aren’t the only ones coping with continual change. The rest of us are there, too, not always as quick to flex as the little ones. When we age, we seem to love non-change more and more, or maybe it’s just me. I think it’s generally difficult to make frequent adjustments to “the way it is,” once we’re in the autumn of our lives.

But I’ve been watching other people in my age bracket and beyond, looking to see if any of them exhibit flexibility and a willingness to embrace change. Amazingly, a few do it with ease, even with flair, all the way through their 80’s and 90’s. How do they do that?

Scripture insists we can stay “fresh and green” until the end of our lives (Psalm 92:14), remaining productive for God, others, and ourselves. In looking at that Psalm, I learned exactly how this can be done:

  • By acting righteously
  • By willingly planting ourselves in the house of the Lord
  • By testifying to God’s righteousness

Green leaves

I found the same thing in one of the Proverbs: “The righteous will thrive like a green leaf.” (11:28)

Such a promise then begs the question, so how do we get righteous? Psalm 1 lets us know: we’re to take delight in God’s law, thinking about it during the day and also during the night. If we do that, it says, everything else we do will prosper.

Everything!

Lotsa fruit

That’s quite a promise. And along that same vein, Jeremiah tells us that if we put our confidence in God and trust him no matter how disastrous our circumstances, we’ll always be like a well-rooted tree whose leaves are continually green, “never failing to bear fruit.” (17:7-8)

Never!

And if all that is true, old age can be all kinds of fun! Embracing new beginnings without stressing over old endings will be as easy as….

….well, as easy as it is for little Emerald.

“The righteous… will still bear fruit in old age; they will stay fresh and green.” (Psalm 92:14)