Think of your last prayer. What did you say? What did you request? Was your request like a list sent to Santa Claus, or a wish made to your Genie or Fairy Godmother? Or were you having a two way relationship asking him how you could best serve him and reflect him to others?
Recently I have been reading Francis Chan's book "Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit". It has challenged me to check my prayers. Chan's challenge is for us to not view the Holy Spirit as "a commodity to be bought or traded according to our individual wants, whims or even our felt needs". Indeed, how often are my prayers directed by my individual wants, whims or felt needs. God does want us to bring all of these things to him, but he also desires to have a two-way relationship with us. When we have a two-way relationship we are also seeking out what the other person wants and what their felt needs are. So the question for each of us, while we move beyond our wolfness, is to ask "What does God want from me?", "How does God feel about what is happening around us and beyond us?", "What does God want me praying about?" and "What does God want me doing?"
When we do seek God and what he is wanting from us, we still need to be de-wolfing our actions. Often times, when we are doing the work God has called to us too, others notice our efforts, rather than his efforts through us. Francis Chan challenges us that "a sure sign of the Holy Spirit's working is that Christ is magnified, not people....Let's pray that God would empower us so radically that we would get no glory. That people would see our works and glorify God."
Can you imagine what would happen in your marriage if you were asking God how he wants you to represent yourself as a husband or wife today? He knows best how he wants to be reflected through you. Ask him! Remember, God does want us to take our requests to him. And, when we are surrendered to his way and his time, our requests will become more Christ-centered rather than self-centered.
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