Praying Dangerously: Five Risky Requests

Praying during our devotions can get repetitive. I have a lot of ground I need to cover each week, and sometimes I forget the essentials.  I don’t feel guilty about how many petitions I put before the Lord. But while I am praying, it is easy to focus on my burdens for myself and others. I want to make sure I am focusing on Him and what He might be saying.

That said, I find that some requests I have made are a bit risky. I never know where the Lord might take me. But if we are serious about our faith walk, certain ways of praying must become defaults. I think of The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis when Lucy and her friends cry, “Further up and further in!” Her words need to be our cry as we move closer to Jesus.

Praying Dangerously 1:  Lord, give me a spirit of repentance.

Repentance is a gift from the Lord that guides us into truth. The definition of repentance is a change of mind. Recently I read a post by Henry Cloud, author of Boundaries. He wrote about people we should avoid. Among them were the No-Nos. These are the people whose minds cannot be changed even when presented by indisputable facts. But in our hearts, we all have a bit of No-No in us. We cordon off areas of our hearts and minds, putting up a Do Not Enter sign. But we only harm ourselves. Essentially this prayer is permission to be exposed. For many of us, this is our worst fear.

Many times, at least more than I care to admit to, I have found myself in bondage to sin or an unhealthy relationship. Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit, and when it seems in short supply, we need to seek repentance. When I ask the Father to give me a spirit of repentance, He is always faithful to do it. He changes my mind and heart, freeing me to make better choices. This change doesn’t always happen overnight but never has He left me chained to unhealthy behaviors or pattern of thinking. He sets me free. The only caveat is that I must be willing for Him to change my mind. That is the essence of this prayer.

Praying Dangerously 2: I surrender.

I think this one is the hardest to say and mean. Even when I pray this and think I am in earnest,  unyielded parts of my life surface. I recently began starting my day by saying Lord, I surrender my day to you. I find it very stress relieving. Suddenly, it isn’t up to me to make it all happen. My days sometimes take surprising detours, but more often then not, I find myself flowing more easily along the river of my day.

I surrender is the one I struggle most with, at least in the past. It is different than asking for repentance because not everything I hold onto is a sin. Sometimes it is my God-given gifts to which I cling. The irony, of course, is that all those were His in the beginning. They are mine as a gift. Surrender is prying open our hands and allowing God to work His will, without explanation, into the clay of our lives. Surrender means being pliable. Dried up clay is useless. I want to be molded into His image, not mine. And that can be uncomfortable.

Dangerous Prayer 3: I forgive.

I resist the formulaic approach to forgiveness. Many people read The Lord’s Prayer as a formula, so when it says forgive my trespasses as I forgive those who trespass against me, it becomes a threat. If I don’t forgive those who have wounded me in the same way as God forgives me, then I will be unforgiven.  The problem is that we are exhorted to forgive seventy times seven. Often, that means forgiving the same offense over and over till it sticks.

But God doesn’t struggle with forgiveness. And He forgives my unforgiveness as I confess it. Most of the time, I have to pray help me to forgive! For those who have suffered grievous abuse, forgiveness is a tremendous act of faith. It is more than mere surrender. It is the act of placing one’s safety and well-being in the hands of a loving God when love seems like a concept rather than a reality.

Praying Dangerously 4: Heal my pride.

Spiritual pride is the bane of all real growth and fellowship. Pride elevates us above others, at least in our own eyes. The real test of spiritual growth is humility. Many times I see false humility. It looks like not taking a compliment, being unable to receive a gift, or just a carefully hidden judgment of our fellow man. I think the worst form of false humility is co-dependency. Co-dependency takes on the responsibility for other’s problems because obviously, they can’t handle it. (But of course, we can…)

When I asked the Lord to heal my pride, I found myself falsely accused, with my house and job lost to a sudden move. Everything I was proud of, my reputation, my beautiful home, and my wonderful job, gone. I have not regained any of them. But I do have something better, something I didn’t know existed. I have my identity in Christ. And I am fulfilling for the first time, my true calling. Turns out, each of those things stood in the way of my destiny.

Dangerous Prayer 5: Give me God-sized dreams.

The scary thing about dreams is that they can go unfulfilled. The risk we take when we pray this is the full knowledge that we cannot fulfill God-sized dreams. I can’t force a God-sized vision to happen the way I can a me-sized idea. To ask for a goal is to catapult yourself into the world of faith, loss of control, and disappointment. I notice, in the Bible, most of those who had God-sized goals had to face serious hardship and disappointment.

Are we willing to fail repeatedly? Are we prepared to face adversity and scorn? I think of Wilbur Wilberforce, who struggled against slavery for decades, at a grave cost to his personal life and health.  Are my prayers too small? Are they too insular? Am I praying in accordance with God’s will? His will in our lives as it is in heaven means more than the salvation of the black sheep in our family. It means participating on a level above which we can attain in our flesh.  That is risky.

Praying in the abstract is always easy. We ask the Lord to bless those we love or to feed the hungry. We pray for healing for the sick and peace on earth.  But if we want to see the kingdom invade earth, the way Jesus indicates, then the change on the planet begins in our hearts.  As we invite Jesus to change our unchangeable hearts, we begin to have faith for greater, more dire unchangeable situations, like the current Coronavirus. Are we as a church ready to jump into the unknown? The reward for following is His return. A church prepared for His coming means each individual heart laid down in obedience and love.

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