Name It Claim It

I appreciate those times in my life when God and I struggle.  Those times when I know that I am experiencing growing pains in the Lord are always good ones (or at least I say that after the pains).  Over the past nearly 3 years of this mission journey there have been lots of those struggles - times when I have had no choice but to hunker down with the Lord and His word and listen.

This past week in Michigan was the beginning of one of those times.  We desperately want to be in Spain in September due to a variety of issues - kid's schooling, ready to transition, good-bye process, excitement, ...  Yet, we repeatedly have to step back in our prayers and say "not my will, but thine."

Sometimes those words are easy to say and believe and other times those words come with the heart wrenching, stomach churning knowledge that His will may equal disappointment for a season.  Add to the equation faith - believing that we are walking where God has led and that He is going to answer, yet what if he doesn't?

We have gotten all kinds of prayer advice - pray fervently, pray specifically, pray believing, ask and you shall receive, and so on.  And thus the latest "growing pains."  I do believe that God's word tells us to ask, according to His will, and you will receive.  I do believe that God often answers my prayers with wait or no.  I do believe in asking specifically.  I do believe that prayer requires faith.   I do believe in the unbelievable, un-matching, indescribable power of prayer!

Yet, how does all this look in reality.  Many television evangelists preach "name it, claim it" gospel.  I don't believe in that theology - there are many things I'd like to claim that I know are nowhere near God's will and therefore I can expect a no.  But how does my theology play out?

So back to my prayer request for a September arrival in Spain (which equals 100% partnership by the end of August).  I pray specifically for this and we have made decisions based on the belief that God is going to answer this prayer, yet we also know that He may say "that is not MY timing."  Does that mean I didn't pray specifically enough?  Does it mean I didn't have enough faith?  Am I presuming upon God to ask this specific kind of prayer?  To those watching the journey and wondering about this God we proclaim to believe in, how does laying out a specific prayer request and then watching God answer - sometimes positively, sometimes with a different answer than our thoughts - impact their picture of faith?

The majority of these questions have no concrete answer, but the struggle will require me to know my Lord a little more.  Maybe that is the purpose of these struggles - not to necessarily find answers, but to be drawn into a more intimate relationship with the keeper of all the answers.

And for now, I will continue to pray with a believing heart and wait on the Lord to answer.

James 1:6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.