The Graceline

Why pray? I’ve been asking the Lord that question for years. Until now, I’ve never understood why we needed to pray. Now before you start calling me names, let me explain.

I’ve been taught that God is sovereign… that He is in control of the universe. Sovereignty means that God can do anything He wants to do… anyway He wants to do it… anytime He wants to do it… to accomplish any purpose He wants to accomplish because He is God. If God knows what is best for me… If God loves me perfectly… If God has a purpose and a destiny for me to fulfill… then why doesn’t God just do it. Why does He need me to pray and tell Him what to do and how to do it? Don’t tell me that you’ve never wondered the same thing.

Recently, the Lord has been teaching me about FREEDOM. He is real big on freedom. Think about it. Didn’t God tell Adam and Eve that they were FREE to eat from ANY tree in the Garden? You will find that in Genesis 2:16 if you want to look it up yourself. He told them not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, or they would die. They were free to eat it, but if they did, they would suffer the consequences because its fruit was poison to them.

In Deuteronomy chapter 28, God presents to His people a list of blessings and curses. Then he says in Deuteronomy 30:19-20 He says: “This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now CHOOSE life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him. For the Lord is your life…”

God has always given us the freedom to make our own choices. Granted, He designed the universe to operate according to specific principles, but we have the freedom to choose whether or not we will align ourselves with those principles. For example, God designed the force of gravity. If I choose to jump off a skyscraper, I will fall downward every time and the landing will be very abrupt. God allows me the freedom to choose whether I jump or not, but He doesn’t allow me to alter gravity. Understand?



God also created the spiritual order. He created life to function in specific ways. If we follow God’s design, we will live life as God intended with joy, peace and love. If we choose to do things contrary to God’s designed order, we will experience discord and pain. Ask Adam and Eve if you don’t believe me.

God created us to live in a perfect world in complete dependence upon Him for everything we would ever want or need. We were not created to live in a natural world that has fallen and been corrupted. Hence, our souls long to return to the perfection of the Garden where mankind lived carefree in the care of God because they lived in dependence upon God, not independently from Him. Trusting in ourselves rather than trusting God is the essence of SIN. Sin separates us from God, the Source of all Life, and is the reason mankind is LOST and needs to be SAVED.

Being “lost and saved” has nothing to do with being “good or bad.” The religious people of Jesus’ day were really “good.” They kept all of God’s rules, and yet Jesus called them “hypocrites and a brood of vipers.” Why? Because they were proud of their “goodness.” They believed they were SAVED because they deserved to be. They did not understand how lost they were because they believed they didn’t need saving. They depended upon their good works to save them.

Sin blinds us to the goodness of God (Isaiah 59:2). Sin also put us in bondage (2 Timothy 2:26). In Luke 4:18, Jesus said that He had come to proclaim FREEDOM for the captives. Galatians 5:1 says that “it is for FREEDOM that Christ has set us FREE.” However, true freedom is not found in trusting ourselves, but in trusting the Lord.

As God was teaching me about freedom, I came across a verse that rocked my world and totally changed my concept of prayer. Would you agree with me that God is LOVE? If so, I Corinthians 13 is a description of God. In verse 7, it says: “Love (God) always protects, ALWAYS TRUSTS, always hopes, always perseveres.” Did you see that? Love always TRUSTS.

Listen! True love trusts. In order to trust, I must give up control. If God is love, then He gives up control to the object of His love… that would be you and me. God knows that love cannot be love without FREEDOM. If I trust you, I give you FREEDOM to live and choose as you see fit. The moment I try to limit your freedom is the very moment I cease to love and trust you. That’s why God never limits our freedom. He trusts US!!! He gives up His right to control us and gives us freedom to choose. Can you imagine that? God trusts US with all our self-centeredness and flaws! WOW!

Now, what does all this FREEDOM stuff have to do with prayer? If God has given up His control to me because He loves and trusts me, then He is not controlling things as I had originally believed. Oh, yes, I believe God causes all things that happen to work together for the good of those who love and trust Him (Romans 8:28), but I don’t believe God over-rides our freedom to choose. He does not violate our will.

If God has given me control, then prayer is not telling Him what to do and how to do it. It is not controlling Him. Prayer is willingly giving control back to God so that He can sovereignly control the circumstances about which I am praying. Note that I said “circumstances,” not “people.” I wish my prayers could control people, don’t you? But remember, God will never violate a person’s freedom to choose.

Prayer is simply asking God to take back the control He gave to you so that His will, not yours, can be done. Let me illustrate Scripturally. When the disciples asked the Lord to teach them to pray, Jesus told them to pray this way: “Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your Kingdom come. Your WILL BE DONE, on earth, as it is in Heaven” (Matthew 6:9-10). Jesus told them to give control back to Papa… to ask Him to be in control in the circumstances on earth just as He is in control of Heaven.

Now when I pray, I ask the Lord to help people SEE their circumstances from His perspective… thru His eyes. Then I ask Him to give them grace to CHOOSE His way over theirs.

Life is all about perspective. That reminds me of two shoe salesmen who went to Africa to sell shoes. The first guy arrived and saw nobody wearing shoes. He called the company and told them he was coming home. There was no market in Africa because nobody wore shoes. The second salesmen arrived and called his company: “Send me all the shoes we’ve got! It’s a gold mine here! Nobody has any shoes!”

Paul knew how important perspective is when it comes to prayer. Note how he prayed: “Every time I prayed, I'd think of you and give thanks. But I do more than thank. I ask — ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory — to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing Him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is He is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life He has for Christians” (Ephesians 1:16-18 MSG).



What we see determines what we shall be. Be careful what you see little eyes! Keep praying, Beloved!