I have had some confusion over a particular topic. I have a little less now. It deals with answering of prayer and God’s wish to give us the desires of our heart. Some scripture references are:
Psalm 37:4- “Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart. ”
John 14:13-14-“"Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do {it.} ”
Here is what I was hearing and reading from others. God wants to give you the desires of your heart-so claim that scripture and ask Him to honor it. God will do anything you ask, as long as you ask it in Jesus’ name-anything. If you are not getting the desires of your heart it is because:
1. You don’t have enough faith, or
2. you aren’t praying right (need to learn the secret formula), or
3. you haven’t given enough “seed money” to ministries, or
4. all the above.
I was not seeing these “Biblical truths” being worked out in real life. I can list any number of things that I asked God to do in Jesus’ name that He did not do. I can tell you that there are plenty of “things” which I desire but do not possess. I have seen evidence of answered prayers, and I have been blessed with much, but I didn’t see things happening the way that many claim they should. This confused me, made me think I was missing something. I did not see these “truths” being worked out in other people’s lives either, even the ones who had put extreme amounts of energy into the faith-prayer-seed money tactics. I have seen people get worked up into a “holy frenzy” as they testified how God was going to pour out upon them blessings of $2,500 watches, new cars, new homes, etc. God was going to do this because these people were His children and He wants them to have everything they want. These people were going to get these things not because they had studied well in school, worked hard to develop a good paying career, and were financially responsible enough to afford to buy these “desires of their heart.” They would receive because they asked, period. They knew how to win the spiritual lottery.
So what’s wrong with that? Isn’t that what the scriptures say? Doesn’t God want us to be happy?
Well, no, this thinking doesn’t square with scripture and the scriptures do not guarantee that God will keep me happy. My responsibility is to “delight in the Lord,” not petition Him for my desires. This is what the first half of the scripture states. As far as “desires of the heart” is the scripture talking about the heart described in Jeremiah 17:9 ?
“The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? ”
or in Matthew 15:9 ?
“For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.”
I don’t think that God would be responsible in the least if he gave us everything our deceitful, sick, evil, murderous heart wanted. I believe that God wants to give us what our real, un-corrupted heart desires. And He knows those desires better than we do, because He designed each of us, and knows what we would have been like had sin never entered the world. Only as our walk grows closer to Him does our heart better reflect what He designed into it. As time passes, as we mature, when the time is right, when it aligns with His will, the desires of our heart are fulfilled.
I am not quite so clear on the reason for the “ask anything” scripture, but one thing is clear; the point of His answering our prayer is so that God may be glorified in Jesus. That is what that scripture says. So, if our prayers are not going to glorify God through Jesus, they don’t really fit with the purpose mentioned here. This scripture is not about us manipulating God to do our will by using His son’s name as leverage. We are to conform to His will, not use the power of the Lord God almighty, creator of the universe and all things in it, to accomplish our will. When I put it that way, it seems completely absurd that I should treat prayer, building of my faith, and contributing money to ministries as a way to get what I want out of God. But I have to be honest, I have done that to some extent. I think I need to pray for forgiveness for some of my prayers.
The photo is a view of the lake in fall from my parent’s house on a lake in East Texas.
I’ll try to make the next post a funny one, at least that is what my heart desires :)
2 comments:
You've accurately described the distortions of the Prosperity Gospel. How sad it is that those that have little are being duped into playing the Spiritual Lottery (This is true in the various state lotteries as well.). What is even sadder is that the "House" always comes out ahead just like at the Casinos. And who is the "House" in the Spiritual Lottery? None other than the seed receiving, ministry charlatans that promise that you will be prospered, healed, and successful if you sow into their coffers. More often than not, God gets the bum rap when the lottery players don't get what they want!
The Spiritual Loterery players need to keep in mind Jame 4:3
Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
Lot's of good truth in your post and the John Stanko link you provided.
your blog title is great!!
I have a friend who understands that verse in Psalms to mean something like this:
If you delight in God, he will give you the desires of your heart --- meaning he will give you the very desires themselves...which he will then satisfy.
(( i love this idea, because I can't always trust my desires...there is another great verse in one of john's epistles -- "he is greater than our hearts"))
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