How Do I Know What to Pray?

Sometimes I don't even know what to pray. How do I know what the will of God is in a given situation? I know from Jesus' words that I don't have to be afraid to ask. I can trust that He has my best interests at heart. God is wanting to give me good things in my life and my children's lives. I wouldn't give my child a dirty rock instead of a tasty, hot, baked roll and I am just a messed up human, so shouldn't I expect God wants to do good to me and mine?

 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!"  ~Matthew 7:7-11

The dilemma is WHAT do I ask God to do?
Sometimes I seem to contradict myself and worry myself sick that I could be praying THE WRONG THING. How then in confusing circumstances do I know what to pray?
Do I pray for someone who is terminally ill to be healed? Someone who is clearly hurting and ready to go to heaven, or that God would be glorified and many come to Him because of that godly person's death and clear witness? Do I pray for better circumstances for my child when I see they are clearly hurting or or straying, or that whatever it takes they would be where they should be? I have come to the point in my prayer struggles that I feel can be persistent in praying what I think is the will of God, and make my requests to Him, like the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18, but I don't have to worry if I know His will perfectly, because.... 
He knows His own will! I can just pour my heart out to Him and He will work on changing me first. He can do exceedingly MORE than I ask! 

 
"Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.  Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." ~ Romans 8:26-28

At times I feel I should be like the woman in Jesus' parable that never stopped asking until she got her answer, at other times I feel I've pestered petitioned Him enough and I must keep giving the situation to Him every day if need be until it is resolved in His timing, and in His way. How many times have I looked back and said, "Thanks Lord, that You did NOT answer my prayer! Your way was so much better!" I can make my requests known to Him and rest, because He will guard my heart and mind and give me peace.

Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’ Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?  ~Luke 18:1-8
  
"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." ~Philippians 4:6-7

When God Guides The Study

WOW! When God guides me to scripture after scripture relating the same subject, even though I wasn't studying that concept, or searching for it it makes me excited, wondering where this is going and what He's trying to show me. I had just read a chapter in a book titled Hard Saying of the Old Testament about Abraham and the demand from God that Abraham sacrifice his son. This is a passage in the bible that I have had struggles with over time and finally came to understand, though I still find it intriguing. I laid the book down, and soon after was searching an online concordance for "love", "unending" or "unending love", thinking nothing at all about what I'd just read.  The VERY first entry for "love" in the NKJ version of Bible Gateway's concordance is Genesis 22:2 and reads:

Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 

I thought that was interesting, what a coincidence... but what happened next gave me goose bumps. I put in "God's love" and found one of my favorite scriptures because I learned it in a song from a pastor friend. Micah 6:8. I clicked a link to see the verses in context and this is what I read:

 ⁷ "Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
      Ten thousand rivers of oil?
      Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
      The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
       ⁸ He has shown you, O man, what is good;
      And what does the LORD require of you
      But to do justly,
      To love mercy,
      And to walk humbly with your God"

This passage is telling us that even IF we poured out rivers of oil or gave something precious, such as our children in sacrifice it is not pleasing to God. He NEVER required human sacrifice in the first place, only obedience. Also, CAN we do justly? On our own do we love mercy? Do we ever truly walk humbly? The answer is of course, a resounding, "NO." We cannot, we do not, and most of the time we'd rather not even try because we fail so miserably. Thank the Lord that He Himself was the sacrificial atonement in our place.

Ken Ham - Susan Wise Bauer - Peter Enns

It seems these three have been in the news recently because Ken Ham and Answers in Genesis have been dis-invited from a couple of homeschool conferences. I have always appreciated Ken's straightforward defense of the Genesis account of creation after discovering for myself how plausible the biblical account is and teaching from his materials, so imagine my shock that he was asked not to speak at these two conferences because he dared mention, by name, people who are putting out a Bible curriculum which denies the historical Adam of creation and other Old Testament history as symbolic or mythology.


From the Biologos website, Peter Enns:

"In my last post I suggested that the Adam story could be viewed symbolically as a story of Israel’s beginnings, not as the story of humanity from ground zero.
But some might ask, “Why go through all this trouble? Why not just take it literally? The Bible says Adam was the first man. That’s the end of it.”
It’s not that simple, and if it were, people wouldn’t be talking it about it so much. First of all, reading the Adam story symbolically rather than as a literal description of history is not a whim, and it is certainly not driven by a desire to undermine the Bible. Rather, as we have seen, the Bible itself invites a symbolic reading by using cosmic battle imagery and by drawing parallels between Adam and Israel (to name two factors).
There is also considerable external evidence that works against the “just read it literally” mentality.
The biblical depiction of human origins, if taken literally, presents Adam as the very first human being ever created. He was not the product of an evolutionary process, but  a special creation of God a few thousand years before Jesus—roughly speaking, about 6000 years ago. Every single human being that has ever lived can trace his/her genetic history to that one person.
This is a problem because it is at odds with everything else we know about the past from the natural sciences and cultural remains". (http://biologos.org/blog/pauls-adam-part-i/)

So he admits that his "truth" comes from man's ideas. And if that is how you feel, then by all means teach that to your kids. They will get the same from public school, so I really don't see the point of homeschooling as a Christian if I follow what I turned away from as a young adult. 


Enns wrote the controversial book: Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament which you can see reviews of here on Amazon.


Susan Wise Bauer seems to defend him, (See highlighted part below) which she well should since he's publishing through her publishing company. She seems to indicate that things have been taken out of context, but when you get down to brass tacks does Enns support the biblical account or not? It regretfully seems not.


Posting this because I expect it to disappear in a few days-
From a comment by Bev at Ms Bauer's site:

Mar 26, 2011 at 12:58 am

Mrs. Bauer,
When I left my first comment on Mar 20, 2011 at 5:23 pm, I thought you were being attacked for your history books as I was not clued in to the whole Enns/Ham/convention story until yesterday evening. After researching the facts myself about Dr. Enns and his beliefs out of his own mouth, I’m at a loss for why you chose him to produce a Bible curriculum that you endorse by selling. I really wanted some answers, so I left a reply on a sticky on the forum asking what your views were, etc. My reply, along with all the other posts on a full page of replies got deleted. Then I asked why my reply got deleted and then that reply got deleted. I pm’d Justin and still haven’t received any explanation.
Others have told me that you (or your webmasters) are not letting any opposing view of “Telling God’s Story” to stay on the forum, only good reviews. Well, mine wasn’t either but merely a polite question, wanting to know YOUR personal beliefs or did you know Enns believed in evolution and a metaphoric Adam, etc.?
I can’t help but say this puts a sour taste in my mouth for your publishing company and that saddens me as I thoroughly enjoy your curriculum and we use it all and I’ve even recruited several women in my church to use your curriculum. I’m hoping that you stop selling the Bible curriculum and distance yourself from Dr. Enns to show that you do not support evolution and a skewed sense of the Bible as he does, but I’m afraid, since you haven’t, that you do have those beliefs.

I watched Dr. Enns lecture as he told of his interpretation of creation, Adam, and even his views on Paul which astonished me. My husband, who is a preacher, was shocked at these outrageous interpretations as well. We would never purchase anything this man wrote about the Bible and will advise others not to do so as well as it is error.

If you would take the time to answer my questions, or give an explanation, that would be much appreciated, as I prefer to receive my answers direct from the source, not hearsay.
Thank you for your time.

The answer: 
Mar 26, 2011 at 7:36 am

Bev,
We decided to publish the curriculum because we thought that the idea of starting an elementary Bible program in the Gospels, with Jesus, was a different and valuable approach, and because Dr. Enns has both a wonderful voice for young children and the ability to explain clearly to parents. You can read the entire first year for free now on Scribd, at http://www.scribd.com/doc/51538077/Telling-God-s-Story-Year-One-Instructor-Text-and-Teaching-Guide. (You can also read samples from the activity book on Scribd and Google Books.) She also publishes Telling God's Story, which IS a book in which he denies the Bible's true historicity.
The information others have told you about the boards is incorrect. As with all other topics, threads are removed when board rules about civility and courtesy are broken. (I’m sure that has been a difficult job for the mods, with many judgment calls.)
Of course I fully support your decision not to use the materials. Every parent needs to decide for themselves which books are useful for their family, and which are not.
I also want to point something out–I know this will not relieve your concerns, and again, your convictions on this matter will guide you–but you should keep in mind that the Westmont College video (I assume that’s the one you’re talking about?) was given in an academic setting, to faculty and students. I have already heard several times sentences from that lecture pulled completely out of context. In an academic lecture, a professor has an entire hour to develop ideas, talk about possible interpretations and their problems, and discuss different theories. I would hate to have two or three sentences from one of my lectures pulled out of context and used against me–I could easily be made to sound like a complete idiot. And an academic lecture is not a sermon. It is not a place where the lecturer tells you: This is what you should believe. It is a place in which to say: What about this? What if this were the case? Is it possible to see this from another direction? Academic lectures are meant to be questioned, not accepted as the final statement on a matter.
Once again, please be guided by your own convictions, but I do encourage you to read the book that we actually published. I think it stands on its own merit.
SWB

So she's hinting that the book they "actually published" is innocent, but they have also published: Telling God's Story: A Parent's Guide to Teaching The Bible. Which is the book in which he denies biblical truth of the Old Testament. I have a novel idea! Let's use THE BIBLE to teach the Bible. 

^"...Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:12-16

Charlie's Choice

Lamplighter books and audio dramas are wonderful! I truly can't say enough nice things about them. If the books seem too advanced for your readers, then by all means, listen to the abridged audios as a family. They are outstanding in their messages and the format of audio drama. In my opinion a drama with actor's voices, background sounds and music, is much preferable to just hearing a book read, no matter how talented the reader.


Charlie dreams of a better future where money and position could cure his family's problems, he learns about true wealth and about the "Captain of his soul".

It was interesting this morning, just as I finished this audio drama, the radio pastor was preaching on storing up wealth for wealth's sake. He said it was not only sinful, it was silly. I started thinking about a book I'm reading where a character says humans spend all their time amassing things, and they don't stand the test of time- they're like tissue paper, window dressing.

The Lord says:  

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. -Matthew 6:19-21

If you look at your receipts and credit card statements where does your $ go? That's probably an indication of where your heart is.  

I heard a story from a lady this week who said her dad had put a $100 bill in the cellar under a fruit jar and the termites ATE it! This was years ago when a hundred dollars was a lot of money.


In these economic times we need to make a careful reading of passages like Luke12 about finances and worry.

King James Bible 400th anniversary and William Tyndale

King James Version of the Bible is 400 years old this year! It was begun in 1604 and completed in 1611.

The King James wasn't the first English Bible, just the first "authorized" by the leader of the English Church, who was also the king, by the way. In 1525, William Tyndale, an English contemporary of Martin Luther, translated the New Testament. Tyndale was the first to translate large parts of the Bible into English, for normal laypersons. During  Tyndale's time the English language was scorned as a barbarous language of plowmen and commoners. If you could afford a copy of the scriptures it would most probably be in Latin. Some English translations had been made as far back as the seventh century, but Tyndale's was the first English translation directly using Hebrew and Greek texts. Tyndale's translation was the first printed Bible in English. John Wycliffe had translated the Bible 150 years before, but it was in Middle English, never printed on a printing press and never widely distributed because the press didn't exist yet.

In 1535, Tyndale was arrested by church authorities, and a year later strangled and burned at the stake. His crime? Publishing the scriptures of the New Testament in English.

The fifty-four independent scholars who created the King James Version of the bible in 1611 drew significantly on Tyndale's translations. One estimation suggests the New Testament in the King James Version is 83% Tyndale's, and the Old Testament 76% his.

The King James Version has helped form our language, given context to our literature, inspired our music, and for centuries was the one book a family owned and read before all others.

I personally love the New King James version because the old King James beautiful poetic language still comes through minus the thees, and thous. Also words like "speaketh" became "speaks"
The 130 translators of the NKJV believed in unyielding faithfulness to the original Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew texts including the Dead Sea Scrolls.


I got my info from:
The Story of The Bible
Wikipedia®
biblicalscholarship.com