The Prayer That's Always Answered

King Solomon the Wise

Maybe you've heard this saying...God answers every prayer. Sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes no and sometimes wait. Someone will usually say that to you when you didn't get what you asked for in prayer. Although in a sense this cliche is true I dislike it because I don't think it even comes close to scratching the surface of explaining the complex interaction between God and his children where prayer is concerned.

Consider this passage of scripture: Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perserverence. Perserverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all wihtout finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed about by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from hr Lord; he is a double minded man unstable in all he does. James:1:2-8

The first thing I notice about this passage is that it focuses on the trials we all face in life. In a bad situation even the aethist is likely to turn to prayer. Crisies drive us toward God. The second thing I learn is that God indeed allows difficulties in our lives to test our faith. Think of an athlete, a body builder. He can lift 200lbs. comfortably now after months of working at it. What's the next thing his trainer does? He adds some more weight to test the bodybuilders strength and further develop it. So it goes in our spiritual life. We're handling our lives in a Christlike way for the most part, loving our families, working diligently at our jobs, ministering in the church, keeping our temper under control, remembering to thank, praise and pray....and then! God adds a little more "weight" to develop our faith. This testing produces perserverence. What exactly is scripture driving at here. I think it means continuing to believe in God, and know and understand him as good and loving and and to draw comfort, strength and peace that passes human understanding during a crisis or ongoing severe situation. Job is a classic example of this. Every conceivable tragedy had befallen him and yet he stubbornly held onto God. Even his wife advised him to "curse God and die", but he clung to God in all his sorrow, pain and confusion. That's perserverence. Job, by the way is fully restored and blessed beyond what he formerly had. We often say "oh, so and so has the patience of Job", another spiritual cliche I dislike. Patience denotes passivity, just sitting there and allowing yourself to suffer through something without raising an objection. That's not what Job did!! He questioned and even challenged God, but always held on to his faith. That's perserverence... a lot more active than patience! To struggle, to wrestle, to question, to cry out, to vent...but never lose your faith...that's perserverence. Those intense times with God make you mature and complete. There's only one person I know of who was mature and complete in his humainty and that is Jesus. So ultimately God's goals for testing our faith have to do with raising us to the level of a mature and complete bearing of the his mage and likeness.

Now, here comes the interesting part about the prayer that's always answered with a resounding YES! Wisdom. If anyone lacks wisdom he/she should ask God, and he will give it to you generously, guarenteed! In trials and tribulations and all difficult circumstances one of the most desperate needs we have is knowing what to do. From the immense life and death situations like "Do we take child our who's been irrepairably damaged in a car accident off life support or not?" to situations of lesser degree "Should I quit my job and start my own business?" to the much smaller stuff. If we just knew what to do we would experience much relief. But wisdom is an interesting gift. You really won't know if your had it and exercised it without hindsite. I believe that's why James emphasis the need to believe and not doubt that God has indeed given you wisdom. It's an exercise or test of your faith. If God had guaranteed to give wealth to anyone who asked that would be easy. A check from Publishers Clearing House Sweepsstakes would show up in your mailbox and you'd know that God delivered. But wisdom....that requires you to decide and act and trust and it might be a while before you know if you really did do the right thing. God's ultimate goal for us is not always release from our struggles but restoring our natures to their pre-fall glorious perfection. The trials are just a way to get you there. Problem is that on this earth our problems often eclipse the glory we should be striving for. Our needs are pressing and our human nature wants relief right now and would forego the future glory if we could have what we want right now. Rather like Esau selling his birthright for a pot of stew. Interestingly it was his brother Jacod who wrestled with "THE angel" to secure a blessing. God lovingly keeps his eye on the goal though and uses everthing to restore our nature that has been damaged and poisoned by sin. Receiving wisdom is itself an exercise of faith, but one with a guarantee making it easier to receive and believe.

So today if any of you lacks wisdom as I do this day, pray, ask God, believe, use all of your heart, soul and mind and act. Trust God and move forward, you'll be wise God guarantees it.