Week Thirty-Four - According To

Two little words, according to, can change the whole focus of your prayer life. For example, when you withdraw funds from your bank account, you can only do so according to how much is available. When you order online, you can only request an amount according to what is available for purchase. And when you pray, your requests are only limited according to what God is able to do. 

And what is He able to do? "Exceeding, abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us" (Ephesians 3:20). And how much power is available to us? Jesus said, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth" (Matthew 28:18). How does that work? Ephesians 1:9 says, "And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us who believe, according to the working of his mighty power." He does the work through us. His power flows through us. Paul wrote in Colossians 1:29, "Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily."

So, according to God's reckoning, we have His power working in us according to what He can do, not what we can muster up. 

Dick Brogden wrote, "We must approach prayer knowing that any answer is for the sake of the supplier, not the supplicant. This is a difficult lesson for us: to make prayer God-centric in answer as well as in petition."

Did you catch that? God is central to the answer as much as He is central to the supplication. How many times are we guilty of whining and begging before God, thinking we might use some magic word or mystical tear to tap into His graces? Do we view prayer as only a petition without thought of the God of vast supply available to those who believe? Are we so small that we think only of our puny selves kneeling in some fruitless exercise? Do we get hung up on trying to say it right, be right, or do right, so God will hear us? If so, we are praying with the wrong focus. Prayer isn't about us. That might be hard to swallow. 

Dick Brogden says, "All things, including answered prayer, are for the glory of God - not the glory of humanity. Everything that God does, He does for His own glory and purposes. Everything we do should also be for Him. The only reason this concept offends and unsettles us is because at our core we want to be the center of the universe. The sanctification process is a long lesson in embracing Jesus as the center."

When we grasp the truth that all we are, all we have, and even every petition we put forth are based on Him, prayer takes a different path. We pray, not focusing on what we can do, or what we can figure out, or what we think God should do, but we begin resting in who He is, what He has, and what He wills, according to His mercies, His riches, and His abundant supply for the answer to every prayer. 

He becomes central, capable, trustworthy, and all-powerful to answer according to Himself alone. 

Chew on this for a while, and next week, we will add to the thought according to what God has revealed in His Word!