Our Perception of God Navigates Our Prayer Life
O God, my greatest joy is the joy I find in that secret fellowship with Thee. Nothing else fills my heart with such excitement and enthusiasm as coming into Thy presence, knowing that I am welcome. May my life today be saturated with prayer and praise because of who I know Thee to be. Amen.
Yet I find it rather strange, when you get down to the practical aspects, that very few Christians really engage in the discipline of prayer to the extent that is available to them in their Christian experience.
It was George Mueller who observed that he had so much to do that he could not afford to spend less than four hours a day in prayer. There was a man who understood the place of prayer. We would say that we have so much to do we cannot afford to spend time in prayer.
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Compare our lives with the life of George Mueller, and see who really had the best idea of prayer.
When Jesus died on the cross, rose the third day from the grave, ascended into heaven, and was seated at the right hand of God the Father, He established for us access to the very ear of God. I am not sure if Christians realize the dynamics of this access.
We now have access to the ear of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a humbling concept to process as I ponder and meditate on my relationship with God.
My relationship with God is not arbitrary, nor is it ritualistic. Rather, it is a personal experience, and it is more than a monologue—it is a dialogue. I am afraid most Christians have not progressed to the dialogue aspect of their prayer life.
Our perception of God is what really establishes the perimeters, if you please, of our prayer life. We need to understand that prayer is not a meritorious act. We do not earn anything because of it. We pray because God hears, and God hears us because of Jesus. Because of Him, God the Father has a good heart toward His people.
The pagans pray to sticks and stones and all sorts of man-made things, without any merit in their prayers whatsoever. The impressive thing, and the most disappointing, is their utter commitment and discipline to this bogus prayer life. God hears us not because our prayer is good, but because God is good.
One dear brother used to cup his ear and say, “God stoops and cups His ear to hear me pray.” The dear brother was not far from the truth. Prayer is the means that God has of knowing that we are ready to receive what He wants us to have.
My perception of the goodness of God will guide me in my prayer. I need to, understand that I do not have to talk God into doing something that He may not want to do. Listen to some of the prayers at a prayer meeting, and you would think people believe they can talk God into something He does not want to do. This is absolutely not true.
God cannot be talked into doing something He does not want to do or that is against His character and nature and attri¬butes. I cannot convince God to do something because I want Him to do it. I am not in the position, nor is anyone else, to negotiate with God on my terms.
The more I begin to understand the goodness of God, the more I begin to understand my relationship with Him, and the more I begin to understand what prayer is all about. God’s good¬ness is the ground of our expectation when it comes to prayer. What can we really expect God to do?
The more I get to know what kind of God is, the more I will begin to understand what my expectation from Him is and what His expectation of me is. It goes both ways, you know. Most confusion in my prayer comes from my not fully understanding what God’s expectation of me is.
Remember, prayer is not trying to conform God to our situation, but rather our conforming to Him.
When I go to God, confess my sins, and trust Him to forgive me, by faith, I accept His forgiveness. I am expecting God to forgive me because I know that God is good and desires to forgive me because of Jesus’ sacrifice for me. Does the merit lie in my faith? Never.
It lies in the good God who forgives because He is gracious, kind, and ready to forgive.
So many Bible verses blossom and flower when we think of the goodness of God.
The goodness of God leads us to repentance, Paul says in Romans: “Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?” (Romans 2:4).
David said in the Psalms, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever” (Psalm 23:6). As I begin to understand the goodness of God, I understand that He takes no pleasure in judgment.
He does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked. God does judge, though. I believe in the judgment day and that every man shall receive according to his deeds done in the body. I believe there shall be a resurrection of the just and the unjust, and there shall be a resurrection of man unto eternal life and of man unto damnation.
I believe that. Yet God takes no pleasure in judgment. David says that the Lord will rejoice over thee for good. God is delighted to shower our lives with His goodness.
When I was a young boy, I used to hear a little song:
In the Shadow of His Wings
In the shadow of His wings
There is rest, sweet rest;
There is rest from care and labor,
There is rest for friend and neighbor;
In the shadow of His wings
There is rest, sweet rest,
In the shadow of His wings
There is rest (sweet rest). -Jonathan B. Atchinson (1840-1882)
If only we could realize that God is that kind of God, we would never have a hangdog look and feel in our hearts. We would never need to go away with a deep sense of inferiority. There is quite a difference between real repentance and a feeling of inferiority that makes you feel “I am no good. There is no use to pray; I am just no good.”
Of course, you are no good. God is good, and because He is good, we can dare to take advantage of His goodness. God’s door is always open for any of His children who have done wrong, so they can come to the point of saying, “Oh taste and see that the Lord is good.”
Recently, as I spent a little time with the Lord each day, I was overwhelmed with how kind God has been to me. How utterly good He has been. If it were not for the grace of God, I would be roasting in hell or languishing in jail somewhere.
God’s goodness has surrounded me and pardoned me and forgiven me, and His loving-kindness has made my life reasonably decent, only because He is good, not because I am good.
I have a little book I have never been without for years. It is a little prayer book, which I wrote myself. I guess it is maybe seventeen or eighteen years old, and I carry it around wherever I go. I write my prayers, and I have a little understanding with God.
Because I, by nature and conduct, have been the worst man that ever lived, I want God to do more for me than for any man that ever lived. I have a right to ask that because where sin abounds, grace doth much more abound.
And if the goodness of God specializes in hard cases, and if the goodness of God can shine brighter against the dark sky, I will provide the dark sky. Shine on, O goodness of God.
When I was a young man, I used to ride the railroads—that is, I used to sneak on board and ride them for free. When I was converted, God began to convict me of that, and I wanted to make up for riding the train all those years without paying. I had been riding around at the expense of the railroad company, and I owed them something.
So I Wrote To The Traffic Manager And Said:
Dear Sir;
I have been converted to Jesus Christ and I am a Christian now, and I want to straighten out my life. A little while back I rode from here to there, from there to here, without paying, and I would like you to send me the bill. I want to pay up.
Not long after, I got a return letter on one of the official B and O pieces of stationery. I opened the letter and read:
Dear Sir;
Your letter has been received. We note that you have been converted and want to live a Christian life, and we want to compliment you on this new act. We compliment you on becoming a Christian.
Now, about what you owe us. Weather suppose you did not get very good service on our line when you traveled, and therefore we will just forget the whole thing.
Sincerely yours,
Traffic manager
I kept that letter for a long time. My conscience was clean and free. God was good to me. I could not pay the bill; I did not have enough money.
May I encourage you that God is a just holy and good God. I know God is severe with unbelief and sin, but God is good, infinitely good, always good. And if you need Him, God will always be there for you.
Sweet Hour Of Prayer
Sweet hour of prayer! Sweet hour of prayer!
That calls me from a world of care.
And bids me at my Father’s throne
Make all my wants and wishes known.
In seasons of distress and grief
My soul has often found relief
And oft escaped the tempter’s snare,
By thy return, sweet hour of prayer!
Sweet hour of prayer! Sweet hour of prayer!
The joys I feel, the bliss I share.
Of those whose anxious spirits burn
With strong desires for thy return!
With such, I hasten to the place
Where God my Savior shows His face,
And gladly take my station there,
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!
Sweet hour of prayer! Sweet hour of prayer!
Thy wings shall my petition bear
To Him whose truth and faithfulness
Engage the waiting soul to bless.
And since He bids me seek His face.
Believe His Word and trust His grace,
Til cast on Him my every care,
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!
Sweet hour of prayer! Sweet hour of prayer!
May I thy consolation share,
Still, from Mount Pisgah’s lofty height,
I view my home and take my flight.
This robe of flesh Til drop, and rise
To seize the everlasting prize,
And shout, while passing through the air,
“Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer!” -William W.Walford(1772-1850)