Aligning With God In Prayer

It’s often lost upon Christians, that the primary purpose of prayer is to bring about God’s plans and purposes upon the earth. Instead, we easily substitute our own plans and purposes for God’s, hoping that God may get on board with our vision. This is the situation Jonah found himself in as he was thrown into the ocean and swallowed by the great fish.

From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. 2 He said:“In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry. 3 You hurled me into the depths, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me. 4 I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight;  yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’ 

Jonah 2:1-4 NIV

God had given Jonah a mission that did not align with Jonah’s own plans for his life. In spite of all the prayers and petitions made to God to rescue Jonah and the rest of the boat’s crew from the storm that was raging around them, it wasn’t until Jonah repented and yielded to God’s will, that God was able to rescue him and those who traveled with him. Then Jonah was able to pray these beautiful words, “Yet I shall look (again) upon your Holy Temple”.

If our prayers are to get results- we need to align ourselves with God and then cooperate with his will in prayer. Aligning ourselves is about checking on ourselves, our attitudes, beliefs, and actions, to ensure they are not working against our prayers!

Jesus said to “seek first the Kingdom of God, and all these things (What things; the things the Gentiles seek after!) will be added unto you. We are not to put the cart before the horse. We are to seek God’s Kingdom in prayer, then those other blessings may be added to us.

How do we align ourselves with God in prayer?

The first thing we must do is to take an honest look at our own prideful will and selfish works. As Jonah found out, we often have our own selfish desires and carnal ways of working things out. These are often in direct opposition to God’s plans and are definitely in opposition to his ways of doing things. 

James 4:1-3 teaches us that we don’t receive answers to our prayers because we pray ‘amiss’, that is we pray from wrong motives. And Peter taught that husbands need to start treating their wives well, so their own prayers won’t be hindered (1 Peter 3:7).

I heard a well-respected minister recount the story of an elder in a church who got offended with how his pastor was running the church. This particular elder was very wealthy. In fact, his tithes and offerings amounted to more than the rest of the church combined! Once when the elder didn’t get his own way with the pastor, he tried to arrange for the pastor to be removed, but couldn’t get more than two signatures on his petition. Consequently, he left the church and refused to go anywhere else. 

That sort of behaviour will open the door to the devil. In due time he became very ill. His wife, who had kept going to the church, asked him if she could call for the pastor and elders to pray for him but the bitter ex-elder refused. Eventually, when he was literally on his death bed with only days to live, he agrees for his ex-pastor to come to pray for him. When the pastor arrived, the sick man said “You're going to need to gather together all the elders, I have to ask their forgiveness.” 

After the elders arrive the sick man sincerely apologized for attempting to manipulate them all and for all his bitterness and unforgiveness. What followed was a good old fashion pentecostal prayer session and the man was raised from his death bed- totally healed. 

We’re not to mess with a hard heart and unforgiveness. We can’t allow selfishness, pride, and greed to get in the way of our prayer life.

The second thing we need to do is to align our thoughts and beliefs with his thoughts and beliefs. In John 15:7, Jesus said, “If you abide in me and my words abide in you, then you will ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you.” There’s no point praying to God with your way, under your terms and conditions, if God thinks differently. You’d be asking him to do things that don’t align to his ways, you’d be expecting God to go by your different and principles. That’s just plain stupid and God’s not stupid, even if we are. 

We can’t use spiritual principles that work against what we’re praying for and expect what we pray to come to pass. And just because you know scriptural truth, if you don’t apply them in your life you will nullify your prayers and the prayers of those around you, concerning you.

The third thing we need to do to cooperate with God in prayer, is to pray about what God is interested in. 1 John 5:14, says if we ask anything according to his will, we have his attention and we will have whatever we ask for.

Too often, Christians have made God, like a consumer item. Prayer has become a line of credit, or an automatic bank teller to draw down on God’s goodness, while in reality, they are seeking their own will.

This may work for a while as a baby Christian. God may allow us to get away with this in our ignorance. However sooner or later he expects us to grow up. We are to grow up in pray and start cooperating with God, seeking His Kingdom.