You gotta be kidding me

You gotta be kidding me.

If we want our God to answer our prayers, to take us seriously, then we need to change the way we pray, and the way we approach Him.  Christians today seem to want God to be the problem solver, the gift giving Father who showers His children with great riches.  We want our God to be our friend who sympathizes with us, holding our hand while we tiptoe through life avoiding all of the bad things.  Maybe we could make a change, altering the way we look at our God, changing the place in which we put our God and moving Him higher and higher in the way we praise our God. 

“We need to improve the quality of our Christianity, and we never will until we raise our concept of God back to that held by apostle, sage, prophet, saint and reformer. When we put God back where He belongs, we will instinctively and automatically move up again; the whole spiral of our religious direction will be upward.”  A.W. Tozer, The Attributes of God

In his last chapter of the Book of Psalms, King David sums it up this way.  “Praise the Lord!

Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty firmament!  Praise Him for His mighty acts; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!  Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet;

Praise Him with the lute and harp!  Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes! Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with clashing cymbals!  Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.  Praise the Lord!

I think one point made by the King in his psalms was that there is no one worthy of our praise other than our God.  He repeats this over and over, and the fact that his entire book of psalms included this message is a testament to just where are hearts and our praise need to be focused.  There is no doubt that he maintained this day in and day out.  Now, I know what you are thinking.  How could we ever get anything done when all our energy is focused on praising our God.  The Apostle Paul offers this advice.  “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31(NKJV).  This is how we give Him praise regardless of the time of day, regardless of the task at hand. 

Tozer puts it this way, when describing some of the approaches taken by the church.  He points out all of the “prosperity preachers” we have today, telling us that we can have better things if we make a change.  “If you want to pray strategically, in a way which would please God, pray that God might raise up men who would see the beauty of the Lord our God and would begin to preach it and hold it out to people, instead of offering peace of mind, deliverance from cigarettes, a better job and nicer cottage....” A.W. Tozer, The Attributes of God

We must remember to “pray strategically, in a way which would please God.”  We must remember  that God is worthy of all this and more.  Our God gives us the breath we breathe, the food we eat and the rest we need to make it another day.  What more do we need? 

The last answer you want to hear from God is “you gotta be kidding me.” 

Praise Him!!!

“in the world, not of the world”