We are going to continue our study on the Aleph Tav. If you are new here, I recommend reading through the very first post on this subject called, Jesus is the Aleph Tav. It will give you a great foundation for all the other posts in this series. 

We are going to talk about prayer. What are some myths people believe regarding prayer? What is the truth? We are going to take the next couple of weeks to look at the myths and truths concerning prayer. 

Myth 1

Myth: When you are praying you need to focus and not let your mind wonder. Focus = dedication to the Lord

Truth: What if when your mind wonders, it’s actually the Lord wanting to hear about your thoughts, worries, and life? God is a personal God. 

Those things that come to mind, those things that your mind wanders to are thoughts that are important to God. He wants to hear what is on your mind. 

Not to mention, if you talk to God about those things that keep popping up in your mind, you will be able to work through those things with the Lord. He likely has a great solution to all those worries. 

“casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” ‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭5‬:‭7‬ ‭(ESV)‬‬

Those of you who are parents. Do you care about what your kids say? What if they start to tell you one story and then go off track and switch to another story? Do you get mad and tell them to focus? No. You care about them, and you care about what is going on in their heads. You want to hear about their struggles, worries, and anything else in their minds. You don’t judge your child for worrying about something that in reality is so unimportant. As a loving parent you will scoop them up, listen to them, and then offer solutions. 

As a child of God, our Heavenly Father is the same way. Those things we worry about, no matter if they are big or little worries, are important to him. He wants us to talk to him about all of them. Remember our biggest worry is still small to God. 

Myth 2

Myth: If God is sovereign, why pray? 

Truth: Yes, God is sovereign. He holds ALL power and ALL authority. He can do what he wants at any time. 

However, it is also true that God has also created rules that even he is bound to. One of those rules is that he will not override human will. 

I often say, “God doesn’t always get what he wants.” It’s true. Do you really think God wanted Lucifer to fall? Was it God’s will that Adam and Eve ate the fruit and invited sin into humanity? Does God want bad things to happen to you? No. God didn’t and doesn’t want any of those things. 

God also doesn’t want to have robots as his creation. God gave Lucifer and the other fallen angels a choice to follow him in perfection, or choose their own way and suffer the consequences. 

Likewise, he allowed Adam and Eve and you and I to choose to follow him or not. 

I used to tell my kids that there are consequences for every action and decision. When we make good choices and good decisions, we get to have good consequences. When we make bad choices and bad decisions, we get bad consequences. This principle is true for children, and adults alike. 

God needs our agreement to do the good things he wants to do in our life. He will never force his will on you. Forcing anyone to do anything is not love. It’s control. God refuses to control your life. He loves you too much to rule over you like a dictator. 

Jesus Asked For Permission

Yesterday I woke up and had a thought. What if Jesus wanted to heal his earthly father, Joseph, from whatever killed him, but Joseph didn’t want to be healed for some reason? I believe that Jesus could have healed Joseph if Joseph asked. 

We later read how Jesus healed EVERYONE who asked him for healing. But that was the catch. The people who received healing from Jesus had to want it. 

Take a look at what Jesus asked the man by the Sheep Gate pool regarding his healing:

“When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” ‭‭John‬ ‭5‬:‭6‬ ‭(ESV)‬‬

There were many people who Jesus did not heal while he walked on the earth in the flesh. Everyone who got a physical or spiritual healing from Jesus had to want it and ask for it. 

One such person who Jesus did not heal is the lame man who sat at the Beautiful Gate outside the Temple. We find him in Act 3. There, we find this man sitting there as usual begging for money. Peter and John start to walk by him, but then stop. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Peter tells the man that they don’t have money, but they do have the power of God to heal him. Peter commands the man to get up and walk, and the man does just that. This man had to have been there when Jesus went to the Temple a short time ago. Jesus passed the man and yet he didn’t heal him. Why? Probably because the man didn’t want to be healed and didn’t ask for it. 

Jesus had the sovereign power to heal the man despite the man not wanting it, but he did not heal him because of the rule of agreement. 

Prayer is important because it helps us to learn what God wants and then we get the choice to come into agreement with what God says. We start to pray for the very things that God wants to do because we have an open and honest relationship with God. It is then we are empowered to what Jesus said in John:

“…ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” ‭‭John‬ ‭15‬:‭7‬ (ESV)‬‬

Here’s the thing. The first part of this verse gives us the key to asking whatever we wish and seeing it be done. Does anyone know what the first part of this verse is? 

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” John‬ ‭15‬:‭7‬ ‭(ESV)‬‬

We must abide in Jesus so we know what to ask. Then we will see miracles done before our very eyes. When we abide in Jesus, we will be able to know what to pray, how to pray, and then stand back and see those prayers answered. It is amazing!

We are going to pause here for today. Next week, we will look at two more myths people tend to believe regarding prayer. I hope you will join me!