Throughout a product life-cycle, creators are always looking to make it bigger, better, and more desirable than ever. Why? Things grow stale when they never change. It’s time for a “New and Improved” product. But making things new is not always what the consumer wants. Just ask Coca-Cola… New Coke, anyone?
However, we want to keep improving things that help us grow into the future with a better possibility than before. That’s why we are continually learning new things. If I still wrote, thought, or knew only what I learned in Kindergarten, I would not be the person I am today.
So. Why do we want the “tried and true” to never change? Well, we cannot stop progress on all fronts. Would you enjoy going back to party lines or rotary phones?
Can We Improve Everything?
Someone shared a thought, and I wanted to share it outward. It’s nothing new, but it is a powerful thought about Prayer. We know prayer is nothing more than communicating with God. It’s a two-way path where we talk, then listen. Too often, we are satisfied with the only prayer from our childhood mind or young Christian walk. But prayer is an improving process of communicating better, listening better, and considering potential and reach.
If our prayers don’t take us:
Beyond our mirror, front door, city, church…
Pray for bigger prayers.
Too many times, we pray only within our sphere,
Yet, we serve an unlimited God!
~Tammy Dyer Bauske
Jesus said, in the KJV, “After this manner, therefore, pray ye…” (Matthew 6:9). In the other Gospel, the words are recorded like this: “When ye pray, say…” (Luke 11:2) We often limit ourselves to the words and never comprehend the manner of the prayer. It’s not that his words are meaningless; rather, when we pray (not if…), we should use his words as our pattern for prayer. We pray for certain needs or situations, and we reach God with our words, telling him our needs.
Consider…
Nehemiah was allowed to ask for anything he wanted, and he responded to the King with this thought:
And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes,
when wine was before him, that I took the wine and gave it to the king.
Now I had never been sad in his presence before.
Therefore the king said to me,
“Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart.”
So I became dreadfully afraid, and said to the king,
“May the king live forever!
Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs,
lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire?”
Then the king said to me, “What do you request?”
So I prayed to the God of heaven.
And I said to the king,
“If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight,
I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.”
(Nehemiah 2:1-5 NKJV)
With specificity, he prayed and then asked the King for specific actions.
Now, God can answer any prayer, but he is sovereign, and it’s his ultimate answer that we live by. Consider Job in the midst of his trial. What did he ask of God? Nothing. He worshipped.
Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head;
and he fell to the ground and worshiped.
And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there.
The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away;
Blessed be the name of the LORD.”
In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.
(Job 1:20-22 NKJV)
Trust
I’ve been sharing a thought about Trust, as in Learning to Trust, in ourselves, others, and God. In the midst of his personal storm, Job said, “Even though he slay me, yet will I trust him.” (Job 13:15)
Trust is impacted by our faith, prayers, obedience, and, well, everything else we can imagine. When God trusts me, and I trust him, then I can boldly enter my communication moment and ask for my needs.
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find;
knock, and it will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives,
and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
(Matthew 7:7-8 NKJV)
Now… Trust means I will trust Him for the answer and live with the results of my prayer. Then, I accept when the answer is “No” or “Wait.” It will not stop me from asking for bigger and better things or for my lot in life to improve, but when, like Paul, we get an answer as he did, well, we accept that as our answer.
And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations,
a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.
Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.
And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”
Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
(2 Corinthians 12:7-9 NKJV)
Paul trusted the answer even if it was not what he pleaded to God for. The result? He had a bigger, better, and more improved ministry.
I want an improved walk with God. How about you? Then maybe we need to change our mindset. Trust God for the answer even when it is not what we want out of life. After all, He is God, right?!!?