As I shared with you before, what I got was a very different answer. “Love me, Justin. Just love me.” The Lord didn’t answer the questions like I thought He would, but He did answer some deep needs burning in my soul.
How the Lord answered me and what He has been teaching me since has given me a lot of insight about praying with expectations. And that, friends, is where I want to begin in this series on intimacy with God.
What do you expect when you pray or when you worship? What do you think will happen? Do you have a picture in your mind about what’s going to happen when you turn your countenance towards God’s?
Maybe you feel like your prayers are sort of a shot-in-the-dark. Maybe it’s more like a Hail Mary (no pun intended). Maybe deep within your mind, if you were honest with yourself, you come to prayer like the skeptic – “I don’t think this will work, but it’s what I’m supposed to do.”
My advice to you is to expect nothing and to expect everything.
That might sound like a contradiction, so let me explain what I mean. First, when I say expect everything, I mean to say – expect that you are about to interact with the Almighty God, the Creator of the Heavens and Earth. You are about to address a God who spoke and worlds were formed. He has no limit of wealth, of intellect, of power, of time, of space, and most importantly of love.
Do you believe that? Is your prayer life a testimony of that? We say things like God speaks to people, but then sometimes we qualify that with, “well, at least He used to.” Christian, the Bible is not merely a history book; it is a testimony to the Person of God. He has not changed. It’s not like 2000 years after amazing stories of healing and freedom, we are addressing a God, who is rather tired, worn out, and who has used all of His miracle magic.
James tells us, “You do not have because you do not ask God” (James 4:3). In Matthew 13 and Mark 6, we read of Jesus not doing many miracles in His hometown because of their unbelief. The people didn’t realize who Jesus was. They thought they knew him – the little kid they watched grow up. Their unbelief centered around their limited understanding of the Person and Power of Jesus the Divine. Are we guilty of the same?
This is why I also say come to God with no expectations. By that, I mean limitations. Like Jesus’ hometown, we can easily put a box around what we think God will do. This has convicted me. I pray sometimes struggling to expect God to intervene. Sometimes, I try to picture what His intervening will look like. Either way, I’m focusing on the seemingly insurmountable problem or the image I’ve conjured up as to what God will do. Instead I ought to be focused on One thing… coming before the all-powerful Creator and King of the Universe. I’m trying to imagine God doing something before I’ve even begun to see Who He is.
As we begin this series on intimacy with God, we will begin with inviting God into our senses… or perhaps I should say inviting our senses into the presence of God. But before we get to that, let me leave you with this. Today, spend some time with the Lord. Turn the cell phones, the iPads, and the TV off. Get alone with God, and as you begin to pray, see yourself, get in the mindset, visualize, or sense yourself walking into the presence of the King of kings and Lord of lords. Focus and concentrate on you coming into and being in the very presence of God. I guarantee that beginning with this step will transform your prayer life.