Praying with the Right Attitude
BY HERRMANN G. BRAUNLIN
James 1:3-5 Did you hear about the two brothers who had farms right next to each other? They bought a cow between them with the idea of sharing its milk for the use of their families.
Well, one brother was a man who believed in praying about everything. And that's good, of course. One morning he offered prayer and remembered to pray for all the members of his family, for his fields, for his day's work, and he finished his prayer by saying: "And Lord, bless my half of the cow."
Now, don't tell me that couldn't happen. You and I have prayed that way, only it wasn't half a cow. You would suppose that if there's any time when we would be unselfish, it would be when we would pray. But it's surprising how selfish we are in our prayers.
How many of us pray about our own troubles, earnestly pray for them? But we group all the troubles of other people in one big general: "And bless everyone who needs Thee." We pray for our own church, for our own preacher, but there are other churches and other preachers. We're selfish.
Now, it's hard for some of us to see further than our own tiny circle, our own limited interest. In order for us to get answers to our prayers, there must be a right attitude on our part. We must be like God in the sense that we are thinking as He thinks and feel as He feels. And it's necessary for us to be one with Him.
Let me read a passage in the Bible that shows that. James 1:5-7:
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.This passage tells us about God at one end of prayer, and about us at the other end of prayer. And it describes the God to whom we pray and it describes us who do the praying.Verse 5, describing God, says this: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." You see the picture?
There is Godgreat, gracious, giving, hearing, responding. And the word that describes Him is "liberally".Now at the other end you have this, the next verse: "But let him (that is, the man who does the praying) ask in faith, nothing wavering." Now God does not waver. When we come to Him, He responds and does so liberally. When we come to Him, we should not waver. "For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord."
In other words, when we come to God, we should become like Him. We know that God's purpose is a lofty purpose. God's purpose is not a small, selfish one. When we pray, we should respond to the very nature of the God to whom we pray. And that's what these verses tell us.
There's a poem about this. I don't know who wrote it; you may have heard it. Read it and show the bigness of our view when you pray:
There is a place where thou canst touch the eyes of blinded men to instant perfect sight.Herrmann G. Braunlin is pastor emeritus of Hawthorne Gospel Church, 2000 Route 208, Hawthorne, NJ 07506.There is a place where thou canst say, Arise, to dying captives bound in chains of night.
There is a place where thou canst reach the store of hoarded gold and free it for the Lord.
There is a place upon some distant shore where thou canst send the worker or the Word.
There is a place where heaven's resistless power responsive moves to thine insistent plea.
There is a place, a quiet wondrous place, where God Himself descends and fights for thee.
Where is that blessed place, does thou ask? The place of prayer. o