MY GOOD LUCK CHARM
by
Earl Scoles Sr.
Last night I heard a person praying and I listened to what was said. This person was trying to explain to God how much He meant to him but just couldn’t find words that would describe the greatness of God. This person was getting frustrated and asked God to forgive him for not knowing words great enough for what he wanted to say.
His mood changed from a mood of frustration to that of thanksgiving. This person knew that God would understand how thankful he was since it was God who had brought him out of the pit of hell to the side of Jesus. But it seemed he couldn't even express his thanks correctly. He kept thanking God for the worldly things he has rather than the spiritual gifts that God had given him. This person didn’t even thank God for the Son that He had given.
The mood of the prayer changed from thanksgiving to asking for things, worldly things, but not godly things. It finally hit me that this person was praying like one unsaved. He was using God like a rabbit’s foot, or like a four leaf clover. He was praying, knowing that God could provide these things for him, and at the same time wondering if He would do all he asked. He forgot that God wants to meet his needs, but in his own time and when the will of the person praying was in line with His will. That is important.
We can pray for worldly things that God wants us to have, but our will must be in line with His will. In our will (of the world) we want things that we really don’t need but we want them to show to others, "Look what I have." In God’s will we can have them if we show them as, "Look at what the Lord gave me!" but not look at what I have achieved. in all things we must make God special not us.
The person praying finally told God that if He didn’t want him to have these things, it was okay. What kind of prayer was this? Of course God wants him to have all he asks for. The person was just testing to see if God would grant his requests. He was using God like that rabbit’s foot or like a four leaf clover, holding the Lord up to his face and saying okay I wish for this. There really wasn’t any faith or expectation in the prayer.
When we pray we are to expect an answer and we are to expect the answer to be favorable, that is, if we are in the will of God. If we aren’t in the will of God then nothing we pray for will be granted. He will some times grant a prayer said that isn’t in His will but it will be as a lesson and it usually won’t be favorable.
This was a lesson well learned by me. God doesn’t grant prayer requests as though it is our turn to receive. God doesn’t roll the dice and say okay it’s your turn, a seven came up. God will grant our every prayer if we are in His will. Some times we will have to pray for His will before asking for anything. We will have to pray for His will before we try to tell Him how much He means to us. We will want to be in His will before we give thanks for the right things.
The Holy Spirit was with this person all night. I know this because I am that person and I felt His presence all night. I wasn’t punished for not knowing how to ask, but rewarded for wanting to and trying. My reward was the lesson He taught me about how to pray.
I woke up this morning knowing that there are no words big enough to tell God how much He means to us or what He is worth to us. There are no words in any language that big. But He accepts any word that comes with love from our heart.
I woke knowing that giving thanks for worldly things is alright. They come from God too, but we must give thanks for all the great spiritual things He gives us and for giving of Himself, His Son Jesus. He gave us a Lord who loves us and a Savior to care for us and bring us in to His family. There are no words to describe all of this but God knows our heart. After all, He gave us our heart and He knows it better than we do. From now on I will just be content to use my heart more and my head less when talking with the Father.
