It was odd to hear this, considering that it had nothing to do with what I was praying about at that moment. I thought of the first two commandments, and then tried to ponder what He was saying. I then proceeded to ask the Lord how was this possible.
"Think of an idol" the Lord continued.
I thought of an idol. The first thing that came to mind was Buddha. It seemed to be an easy one. After all, I always saw statues of this dude in the nail salons.
"How do people pray to Buddha?" the Lord asked.
"Well, I've seen them use food, and incense, and candles, and all sorts of stuff, Lord."
"When they are finished praying to it, what do they do?"
"Um....they leave?" I answered, perplexed at the Lord's questions.
"Why do they leave?" the Lord asked.
"Because they said Amen? Um...because they're finished?"
"Why do they leave?" the Lord asked for a second time.
"Because the person is finished with their prayer or request?" I said, doubting my own answer at this point.
A third time, He asked "Why do they leave?"
By now I knew I was answering wrong. So instead of continuing, I decided to reverse the question.
"Lord, I don't know! Why do they leave?"
"They leave because they never expect the idol to answer them" He responded.
The Lord continued; "My children treat me like an idol made of wood, stone, or metal. These things are dead. They have no life. They cannot respond. But I AM life. Yet, my children pray at me, instead of to me. Once they are finished, they quickly leave because in their heart, they don't expect me to respond."
I was immediately convicted. I knew that I was guilty of this in my own life. I began to repent to the Lord of treating Him as such.
Too many times, we don't consider that although God is spirit, He has feelings. We even more forget that Christ is a person, who again, has feelings. In fact, the very reason why you feel is because we, as mankind, were created not just in the image of God, but also after His likeness - which means; His character and personality.
In Psalm 40:1, the psalmist, David, said; I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry.
Here, the key note is that he waited patiently. So often we are not patient with the Lord. We live in a society where we want everything now; we've been conditioned to only follow our senses. Yet, in this process, we fail to realize that this form of living goes completely against faith.
Faith is the substance of things we hope for, and then becomes the evidence of what we can't see. And without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:1,6).
Understand this: it takes faith just to believe in God, and to build a relationship with Him. It takes faith to believe that the God who created all things, the God who called you by name before the foundations of the earth, the One who knitted you together in the secret of your mother's womb, is the same God who will answer you...IF, you wait patiently for Him.
Spiritual Food For Thought
Shalom
Mena Lee Grebin
Faithful Walk Healing Ministries
WOW! Convicted. Repenting now. My Lord! I am so sorry. We need to take the time to take time. Business and rushed prayers become prayers at the Father sometimes. When one does not understand the purpose of a thing, abuse become inevitable. We need to understand the purpose of prayer as His children. Just Wow.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this Mena. It brings conviction.
ReplyDeleteWow! Please forgive us Lord.
ReplyDeleteGreat insight into the very heart of God.And one other thing I have also received from Him is this;that He also earnestly desires that we always take out some quality moments at the end of every prayer session, to thank Him for answering that prayer. To Him that is a demonstration of our confidence in Him that whenever we pray according to His will, He not only listens, He also answers us. But When the answer will manifest in the physical depends largely on our ability to continue to believe that He has indeed answered us. That is faith. Bless you.
ReplyDeletePpwerful
DeleteI wished I saw this last week!
ReplyDeleteI needed this
ReplyDeleteLove Thank-you for sharing. I too am convicted of how I pray, and my faith is a constant struggle to stay on the straight and narrow and to turn away from sin. The flesh was born of sin, and no sin in God's eyes is worse than another for they are all sins, remembering to honor and thank Him daily while we repent and ask forgiveness is a blessing and should not be looked at as I will do it later. I am so guilty of this, I know what I am to do, but dont always follow through.
ReplyDeleteGreat word. Thank you Mena for your continuous obedience to God.
ReplyDeleteOh wow!! Convicted, repented as I read!! God bless you for sharing. Changing prayer habits now Lord!! Right now!!
ReplyDeleteOH SNAP!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this! Yesterday at 5:00 in the morning, as I layed in my bed, I began to pray and God literally placed it in my spirit that I needed to sit before Him in silence 3 times a day. Like many Christians, my prayers had become like those unto an idol. I pray, then I leave.
ReplyDeleteYour post really resonated with me. God is showing me the exact same thing. We need to consider Him in our prayers. Don't just say Amen and then leave. Spend some time waiting for Him to reveal something to you. There may be something He wants to show you, make yourselves available to recieve His word!
I love the article as well, but couldn't help to think....sometimes, HE doesn't answer! Unfortunately, people have grown accustomed to not getting a response, but rather of going through the motions. It's sad, but true!
DeleteWHOA!!!! What a Word! Very powerful and thought provoking.....
ReplyDeleteFather lord God, I thank you for this revelation
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ReplyDelete