Placing the Order

I may have broken my toe.  I whacked it pretty good and boy did it  hurt.  My son was trying not to laugh as I hobbled around and howled in pain.  A little time has passed and it hurts back up in the middle of the foot where the bones go.  I was about to say a prayer to ask for healing, but then I started thinking about it.

My foot hurts and it would be great to get it healed, but my hip hurts too.  I'm a middle aged man and I have my aches and pains.  My one hip aches all of the time.  It would be great if that were healed instead.  Then come to think of it, our finances could use a bit of a boost.  Of course there are people I know with cancer or are struggling with depression, they could use some help.  Oh and there's the measles outbreak, but I guess we already got one miracle to fix that problem, but there is the Middle East and Global Climate Change.  This is turning into quite a list.

I think that too often we approach our prayer life as though we were placing an order.  "Excuse me, I'll have a double blessing with a side of forgiveness and a diet pop."  We treat God like He's the hired help, sending Him out to do our bidding.  

This is really backwards.  We can spend our lives chasing our wants and in the process completely miss what we really need.  In the book of Philippians, Paul writes "And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus."  He will supply what we need, not a list of what we want.

Watch this clip from Pastor Lowell.

Your sins are forgiven.  That probably wasn't on the top of his list, but it is definitely what he needed.  It's what we all need.  When we pray, rather than giving our list to God, rather than placing our order, we need to say "God, you know me better than I know my self.  Please tell me what I need and please provide that."