Gracefull Ears

The church has been praying wrong for so long, the church itself is sick.

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life." - Proverbs 13:12

After my recent post about God's words being as powerful in our mouths as they are in His, I was contacted by a number of people. My heart is heavy with the thought that we've been praying wrong for so long that so many are wondering:

1) Does God answer prayer at all?

2) Does He just not want to answer mine???

The name-it-claim-it church has made a mistake in teaching that God grants wishes - like some Disney theme song. Or that if we beg, we may move His heart - as if the God of Who Holds The Universe In The Span Of His Hands is manipulated by intense intercession. Or that if we declare it in Jesus' name, it must be so, like some magical word. Or if we pray the liturgical prayers of generations before us, without the accompaniment of the discipline to hear, that we'll somehow be #transformed. Or that if we ask for a Christmas List of things, we increase our chances that some of them will come to pass.

Prayer is not a machine gun: hoping that one of our bullets will hit the heart of God and move Him on our behalf.

Then, after a lifetime of one-way prayers that long go unanswered, we blame everyone but ourselves. They don't have enough faith. They didn't ask long enough. They have some sin preventing the answer. And the heart grows sick. The believer moves into the realm of doubt and self-doubt: Is God no longer answering prayer or just not answering mine?

The antidote is simple: Prophecy is hearing what God says in the Courtroom of Heaven and declaring it here on earth. Prayer is receiving the heart of God in the presence of God, then declaring whatever He says. Nothing more, nothing less.

Woe to the prophets who speak when they have not heard (Ezekiel 13). Woe to the prophets who do not speak when they have heard (Jonah).

I'm not saying I'm perfect at this - I still rush in with prayers before listening at times. Especially when I am close to the situation or the person being prayed for. I find it's even more difficult in a group setting. I'm still in training.

However, when I am asked to pray for someone one-on-one, I agree to do so, but I establish up front that I will only speak or pray what God tells me to pray and I don't really want to hear their list of prayer needs. When I tell them this, it increases the person's faith because they know I am hearing God and not wasting their time. What follows is verifiable and specific.

#Grace trains a listening ear.