Manipulative Prayer
For quite some time now, I have been thinking more and more about what we as Christians and especially the rather charismatic “stream” believe and do, and how much this corresponds to the Biblical standard. I will write much more about this in the future. Today, for example, I again tripped over the way a lot of people formulate certain prayers: “Thank you, God, that you will do such and such.” This can be interpreted in two ways:
- The person thanks God for something that God has already announced and promised in His Word.
- The person thanks God for something that the person hopes to receive from God but has not received yet.
I take issue with the second case. Although it sounds grateful and seemingly expresses dependency on God, and probably is meant this way in most cases, I feel it is a manipulation of God. Just imagine this on a human level: A child tells his father, “Thank you, Daddy, that you will give me a piece of cake!” Something is wrong here – in a certain way, the child puts himself above his father and orders him to do the child’s will. Add thanks to it and it becomes manipulative, sounding so very courteous. The sequence of events and the authority structure have simply been messed up, a violation of protocol if you will.
The child should rather say, “Daddy, would you give me a piece of cake, please?” Now, the father is free to decide about the request. If he says yes, he will be happy to fulfill the child’s request and the child can express his genuine gratitude. However, if the father says no, he should explain to the child why he could or would not fulfill his request. This is part of his parental responsibility.
Of course, God sees our heart when we pray to Him, but our words do express our attitude. Should our relationship to God not be much more reverential than that to our natural fathers? God wants us to ask Him, but He has established conditions. Here are some scripture references (emphasis added; please read them in context!):
“Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” (James 4:2b–3)
Jesus says: “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” (John 15,7)
Jesus says: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.” (John 15,16)