October 22 – Praying God’s Mind (James 1:5-8)

“You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”
(John 14:14)

IN WORD:
One of the most emphatic promises from Jesus to His disciples is the promise that the Father will give them whatever they ask in His name. It is profoundly encouraging to believe that promise, but truly bewildering not to see it answered. We know the usual warnings given about such prayers: They must be according to His will, we must ask in faith, we must not harbor sin or bitterness in our hearts, we cannot pray selfishly, etc. Still, we wonder why we don’t always receive what we’ve asked for, even when, as far as we can tell, we’ve met all the prior conditions.
James gives a prayer to pray that should come before all our other prayers. It is a prayer for wisdom (James 1:5). We can ask God to put His thoughts into our minds and His will into our hearts. We are not asking for Him simply to point the way; we are asking for Him to infuse His way into the very depths of our souls. We are asking for His Spirit to direct us from within. We are praying to receive his mind as our own.
Most assuredly, this is an answerable prayer. God waits with anticipation for us to ask it. He encourages it and appeals for it, calling us into it repeatedly. He doesn’t just want to pass on His information to us; He wants to fill us with Himself. Then our desires become His, His plans are written into our dreams, and He lives the life of His Spirit in the body of our flesh. It’s a powerful communion, amazing in its mercy.

IN DEED:
Do you pray with reservations, wondering if you are hitting or missing God’s mark, holding your breath and crossing your fingers for His answer? It doesn’t need to be that’s way. Ask for His wisdom. Pray for His thoughts. Look for a drastic revision to your character and your dreams, and then pray the desires of the new you. No, asking for His thoughts does not mean to grasp the next whim that enters your mind — He may not have put it there. But over time, you will see within yourself a blessed conformity to His purposes. Then you will know how to pray.

“Prayer is none other but the revelation of the will or mind of God.” -John Saltmarsh-