Praying Specifically
Mark 10:51
"What do
you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked him. The blind man said,
"Rabbi, I want to see."
Scripture
Read Mark
10:46-52
Study
In this story
Jesus encounters a blind man who wishes to be healed. He cries out
for mercy but Jesus does not heal him immediately. It is only when
the man expresses his exact need that Jesus heals him.
When we pray
God wants to know exactly what we want. Sometimes when we pray, we
don’t even know what we want. When we pray for something very
general like to be blessed, how do we know when God has answered our
prayer? When God asks, “What do you want?” we should be able to
respond to the question by telling God specifically what we want.
Andrew Murray
offers 5 questions we should ask ourselves before praying.
- What is
really my desire?
- Do I
desire it in faith, expecting to receive an answer?
- Am I
ready to present it to the Father and leave it in his hands?
- Is there
an agreement between God and me that I will get an answer?
- Am I in
agreement with myself – body, soul, & spirit – that I will
receive an answer?
By answering
these questions, it helps us to avoid vague and pointless praying.
We will not be heard simply because we have many words, but it is
rather telling God exactly what we need and fully expecting that he
will supply that need.
Want vs. Wish
How many times
do our prayers simply come out like a wish list for God? Do we say,
“God, I really wish that you would heal my aunt.”? Or do we say,
“God I want you to heal my aunt and I know that you have the power
to do so.”? God may have a higher purpose in mind by not healing
your aunt but when we ask we should have the understanding that God
can do it if it is His will.
While we don’t
know God’s specific will in everything, we already know what His
will is in a lot of things. It is His desire that we grow closer to
Him. It is His will for people to be saved. It is His will to see
our entire church grow spiritually. When you pray for things like
this, you should expect that the answer is already yes. It may not
be instantaneous and it may take work on our part. If we pray for
growth in our churches, God may answer that by calling us to work
harder.
Not knowing what to pray for
Sometimes we
simply don’t know what to pray for. We know we need to grow
spiritually but don’t really know where. We know a family member is
hurting but don’t know if it is a spiritual issue, or a physical
one. God still answers our prayers even when we don’t quite know
what to ask.
Romans
8:26-27: “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We
do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself
intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who
searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit
intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.”
God still
knows even when we don’t know what the problem is. When we pray
specifically we need to pray powerfully, expecting the prayer to be
answered. And when we don’t even know what to pray, we still need
to expect that God understands our needs better than we do.
Adapted from
“With Christ in the School of Prayer” by Andrew Murray
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