I am curious as to what I’m supposed to pray about. I continuously pray that I’ll grow to be 6 foot or 6 foot 1, but I always end up not trusting God properly. People tell me that I need to believe it’ll happen and pray specifically. I’d like to know if there is anything I’m doing wrong and what I should do to make it better.<\/p>\n\t
Suppose a thirty-year-old man who was five foot tall earnestly prayed to become six-foot-tall, what would you think of that man? Would you expect God to answer his prayer?<\/p>\n
It is unfortunate that so many people treat God like a cosmic vending machine where you insert the proper prayers and out pops whatever you ask — regardless of whether what you are requesting is reasonable or not. It is wrong because it holds the wrong view of God. God is not at a man’s beck and call to grant our every desire. People may ask, but it is God who determines what is in our best interest. We look at our immediate desires, but God considers what we need for our life. Paul suffered from an affliction which he asked God to remove, but Paul was turned down! “And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong<\/em>” (II Corinthians 12:7-10). It is not that Paul prayed in the wrong way or without enough faith. Paul realized that his suffering, as annoying as it was, served a purpose in keeping him from becoming too prideful. Rather than grip about it, he rejoiced in God’s care for him.<\/p>\n James scolds people who pray for the wrong reason. “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures<\/em>” (James 4:3). While God doesn’t necessarily what us to be unhappy, He doesn’t give us things just because we want them. The universe exists at His good pleasure and we are here to serve His purpose. “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all<\/em>” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). So, consider your motivation. Why do you want to be taller? If I poked at the issue with you, do you suppose that at the bottom of it there is an issue of pride? You see others who are taller than you and you are envious of the attention they get because of their height? If such is the case, why would God fulfill such a request, even if it was asked in all faith?<\/p>\n Imagine its the holidays and a child finds ten presents waiting for him. Each is a wondrous gift, but the child had really wanted a new bicycle and none of the presents was a bicycle. He then walks off pouting because he didn’t get the one thing he wanted. Wouldn’t the child’s ingratitude annoy his parents? Especially if they had decided not to give him a bicycle because there was no safe place for him to ride it where they were living? What we need to learn to do is thank God for the blessing He has given to us. And if you start numbering them you will not be able to count multitude that you have already received in your life. Yet all of that is being thrown away because there is one thing you want that God decided not to give you. We all need to be thankful for what we do have instead of finding misery in what we don’t have.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I am curious as to what I’m supposed to pray about. I continuously pray that I’ll grow to be 6 foot or 6 foot 1, but I always end up not trusting God properly. People tell me that I need to believe it’ll happen and pray specifically. I’d like to know if there is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[1510],"class_list":["post-9900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-prayers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":67666,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-ask-for-forgiveness\/","url_meta":{"origin":9900,"position":0},"title":"Is it wrong to ask for forgiveness?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 16, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, I hope you are well, My question here is twofold. First, I was taught that we shouldn't ask for forgiveness; instead, we should thank God for his forgiveness. This, though, feels both right and wrong. This confuses me a bit because nowhere in the Scripture does it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20187,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-is-it-wrong-to-pray-to-saints\/","url_meta":{"origin":9900,"position":1},"title":"Why is it wrong to pray to saints?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why is it wrong for Catholics to pray to saints? Answer: Well, first of all, prayers to someone dead is an exercise in futility. The dead cannot hear your prayers. They are no longer involved in life. \"For the living know that they will die; but\u00a0the dead know nothing,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":52783,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-pray-to-die\/","url_meta":{"origin":9900,"position":2},"title":"Is it wrong to pray to die?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 13, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am a member of the Lord's church, and I would like to know if it is wrong to pray to die. I have had a couple of incurable health problems for years, and I just can't take it anymore. It has robbed me of any chance at a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56225,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-we-pray-directly-to-the-holy-spirit\/","url_meta":{"origin":9900,"position":3},"title":"Should we pray directly to the Holy Spirit?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 26, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, brothers in Christ. I heard a few Christians who would lead public prayers and at the end of their prayers, they would include the Holy Spirit (e.g \"Father, all these things we pray in the mighty name of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen\").\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13583,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-prayers-only-be-made-for-things-that-bring-god-glory\/","url_meta":{"origin":9900,"position":4},"title":"Should prayers only be made for things that bring God glory?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 12, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I've been struggling (perhaps not the best word) lately regarding my prayer life.\u00a0 I wonder if you could share some insights into my thoughts.\u00a0 I don't know that I have an answer, just questions. It occurs to me that I see a pattern in several locations in Scripture from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37371,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-would-be-an-example-of-a-sin-not-to-pray-for\/","url_meta":{"origin":9900,"position":5},"title":"What would be an example of a sin not to pray for?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Your article \"A Sin Leading to Death\" reminded me of a question I have struggled with. The lead-in verse I John 5:16-17, if I may paraphrase simply says there is a sin to pray for and not to pray for. What would be an example of a sin not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9900\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}