So I've been blogging on the irony of infidelity (we are unfaithful, distrustful, abandoning those we really love, or should love, the most). Here's your chance to go back to the beginning of this blog series (Link).
One of the most common prayers we pray is the "Please help me" prayer. Millions of us pray these words, "Please God, help me not to __________ any more."
God understands our heart, so if you pray this kind of prayer on a regular basis please don't get freaked out. Here's the deal with these kinds of prayer: Romans six, in the Bible, is all about living a life that keeps us free! It talks about the ideal focus (attitude, mental state, thoughts) we should have. It tells us what NOT to focus on. Try reading this chapter after considering this:
1. We get to have a mind-set that chooses to believe we are "alive IN God through Jesus!" (verses 5 & 11). We are to tell ourself (praying it is the best way to do this) that "sin has lost its power over us." It doesn't matter if we "feel this to be true or not." It's not contingent on if we've just had another "crash and burn" into our own self-destructive past. We are, by trust, to believe this is true because we've accepted Jesus in our lives and He lives in us! This sets us up to stop praying the following kind of prayers:
"Help me not to lose my temper any more!"
"Help me to not smoke today."
"Help me not to think impure thoughts today."
"Please God, help me to not judge others today!"
These promises (Romans 6:1-11) are inviting us to pray the following trust prayers instead:
"Thank you that Your peace is ruling in my life today."
"Thank you that this body is Yours and I get to honor Your life in my body today."
"Thank you that Your pure mind is now my mind."
"Thank you that You alone can see the motives of others. I don't have to worry about this."
We've known for a long time that saying things like, "I'm not going to gain any more weight. I'm not going to become obese." only serves to encourage the very things I'm trying to avoid. People who study human psychology have known this for years. But God invited us to pray positive prayers thousands of years ago (See Romans 7 for Paul's description of how harmful it is to focus on what "we don't want to do.").
2. The power of sin (the obsession with MY way) is broken because we're now "under grace" (like an umbrella)! This is what we see when we look up, around, everywhere we look: God's gift of love (grace) is our motive, our hope, and our motivation for everything! We are "no longer under the law" (that "I've got to do this or else" fear motivation.). It's all about seeing how much we're loved (Ephesians 1:4-5)!
Now try reading Romans 6 and continue talking to God! Make sure you re-read verses 11 and 14! Pray, by trust in God, what God "will do" in you. You are His Kid! Really, really!
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