Bargaining with God

Sometimes we try bargaining with God in our prayers, especially during crises. Promising that we'll do this or that for God if He'll just do this one little thing for us or will give this one little thing we're asking for. But as Christians we often forget that we don't have to bargain or beg. We are God's very own children and all we have to do is simply pray effectively, which means praying to God with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength because He is the only Person who can fix our problems or supply us our needs.

During times of adversity our prayers must have purpose to be effective. Our daily conversations with the Lord often cover several topics and sometimes many people. That is good because regular communication is what builds healthy relationships. Especially with God. The more we talk to the Lord in prayer, the better it is for our relationship with Him. Think about it ... how good would your marriage be if you didn't talk to your mate more than a couple times a week; or even once a day, which is better but still far from ideal? We must develop the habit and routine of taking everything to God in prayer. He will know which things are of greatest concern to us. But when James speaks about the righteous person's effective prayer reaping results (James 5:16) he is talking about one specific prayer request, focused on a single situation, requiring one resolution. The King James version of the Bible uses the word "fervent" as it describes such a request or prayer which is prayed with urgency and a strong desire for an answer. We are to take everything to God in prayer and to do so constantly. But even more so in dire circumstances, asking for His help and power to find a way through the hardship or trouble.

God desires nothing so much as He desires using His supernatural powers to help or bless His children. However, as believers, we can allow pride and self-reliance to get in the way. As long as we feel we can handle a particular tough time, we won't be praying the way James is talking about here in 5:16. An effective or "fervent" prayer recognizes our weakness and God's strength. It is when and where we feel the most desperation and utter helplessness that God's great Holy Spirit can release the most power (2Cor 12:9).

Effective prayer is honest and real, spoken with an honest sense of urgency and desperation. We don't need to try and bargain with God ... He is eager to intervene on our behalf when we trust in Him and Him only to bring resolution to our situation. He loves us and answering this type of prayer is right up His alley.

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And how is your prayer life? Mine? I'm still struggling. I know I don't pray the way I should. I know what God desires and I seem to be sorely lacking. I don't pray often enough. When I first came to the Lord I prayed constantly. Then somehow over the years I got lazy or forgetful or something and now I'm to the point where I don't even pray once a day. Shame on me, I know!! The thing is, I miss my prayers too. It was a lot more fun and rewarding when I prayed all the time. It just seems that I forget about it. And when I do pray I promise myself that I'm going to shape up my prayer life only to walk away forgetting all my promises to the contrary. I am sorely in need of discipline in that area. Perhaps that's why my brakes are acting up again. Maybe it's the Lord teaching me to pray constantly. But when I pray constantly I feel like a nag. Anyone else ever have this problem? Any suggestions? I'm open to just about anything at this point in time.

It's raining here in my little part of the world this morning. Lucky for us that we got our Christmas lights up yesterday afternoon. I went out to the garage and plugged them back in this morning because it was so dreary outside. I thought the lights might bring a bit of cheer to the neighborhood. We also got Christmas Moose up and his lights on too. I think I need to buy some glass balls to hang on Moose's antlers. I think they would add a little something to the overall look. So anyway, now I have all my Christmas decorating done. I don't do much because the cats won't let me do much.

Michael and I both sat down last night and did our Christmas cards. He has his own list of friends that he sends to and then I have mine. Between the two of us we are sending out 46 cards. Didn't think we knew that many people! (That's $18.86 in postage, ouch!!) Now my chore is to wrap the presents I got yesterday. Last year I saved all the wrapping until I'd done all my shopping and I exhausted myself wrapping all the gifts at one time. This year I thought I'd wrap as I go. Hopefully that will work better. I plan to go shopping again tomorrow and hopefully finish it all up. That will be nice to have it all done. Yesterday I just went down to the Pharmacy here in town and bought 4 gifts. This store is a gift haven. It's my favorite place in the whole world to shop and the only reason I don't do all my shopping there is that they don't have that many "guy" gifts to buy. It was so pleasant yesterday. No crowds, no confusion, nobody in my way. So unlike WalMart. Two of the gifts I mail ordered came in yesterday too so that helped. It's funny, every year I say I'm going to do my Christmas shopping all year long rather than just at Christmas time when the crowds are impossible to deal with and every year I fail to do that. What's wrong with me??? Besides the bipolar, that is.

No plans for today except to stay dry and wrap the gifts. It's going to be a lazy day for me. Michael is cooking his own chili beans for his dinner and I'll just warm up the pork fried rice from the other night, so I don't even have to worry about cooking dinner. Yea!!! I think this calls for a scheduled nap. Yep, I really do.

Until tomorrow... P.S. My spell checker says I didn't misspell a single word. Good for me!