The Power of Single-Minded Prayer

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
James 1:5-8

The power of single minded prayer is all about congruency in prayer. Webster defines congruency as "a point of agreement." The Scripture says if you need wisdom, you should ask God. What is asking God? It is prayer! But when you ask, when you pray, the Word says, you must believe, not doubt, and pray in agreement with God’s will. The person who doubts receives nothing from God. Why? Because doubt is contrary to God’s nature—it’s incongruent!

Many Christians believe they are praying in faith, but when you put them under God’s cat-scan, it reveals they are not single minded at all – the requests they are making of God, their self-talk (meditations), their conversations with others, and their behavior regarding their request all demonstrate different, even conflicting expectations. Their prayers aren’t congruent…

There are several truths I want to discuss with you. The first is: If we are to be heard in heaven and see God answer our prayer, we must know the God to whom we are praying. We learn in the book of Genesis that He is the Creator. So it makes sense, when we pray to the Creator that we expect Him to answer us creatively.

Think about this. When you pray, "God, please let me get that job," you are basically praying, "God, please do for me the thing I have already decided is best for me. I’ve done all the thinking, all you have to do, God, is copy me, I have it lined out: give me the job."

Can you see how this prayer in itself transgresses the nature of God, Creator? You aren’t asking Him to create His unique plan for you. You are asking Him to produce for you what you have already decided is best.

So you are not praying to God as He is: a Creator. You are not praying for His creativity. You aren’t asking Him to do "Above all that you can ask or even think" (Ephesians 3:20). You are just asking Him to do as you say.

Now think about this: why are you giving God instructions? Why are you trying to engage God in your plans and purposes, instead of recognizing that He has plans and purposes and a will for you? ...bigger than you realize!

I think some folks feel that the devil must spend all his time working on how to mess up their lives. They might be surprised to discover that they are not Satan’s primary enemy. The devil’s enemy is our heavenly Father. Satan’s at war with our daddy. Problem is there are only two ways he can hurt God. The first is to hurt you. When Satan hurts you, it certainly hurts your Father. The second, Satan’s favorite and most effective way to hurt God, is to get one of us to hurt Him.

You know this is true, if you’re a parent. No one can hurt Alice and me like our own children. No one can make us prouder, but no one can hurt us more deeply, either. Why? Perhaps because our children are extensions of us.

We are created in God’s image. Our Creator’s ways are above our ways and He delights in doing things abundantly above all we can ask or think. When we begin to understand this, we may discover that we’ve wasted a lot of words instructing Him, and praying for things which He can’t and won’t do because there’s no "point of agreement."

Find out what we can and should pray for and pray those things. What Jesus is praying for in heaven (Heb 7:25), and pray those things on earth so the answers can come. (See Matt 18:18-20.)

Perhaps rather than creating our own list of requests determined by our needs, we should focus on the point. The point is God and what He’s doing on earth. God has a plan, a purpose and we need to find out what His plan and purpose is and pray accordingly. This is congruency!

God hasn’t put us here to simply identify and meet needs through prayer. He’s put us here to extend His kingdom – to be light-bearers to those in darkness; to demonstrate His love and fill the earth with the knowledge of His glory; and to exalt His Son, Jesus. It’s crucial for us to move from problem centered to purpose driven prayer. We are here to fulfill a purpose. We need to take our requests, gift wrap them in God’s purposes, and tie them with ribbons and bows of thanksgiving, THEN present them to Him.

But our request is just the first of the four issues that need to be congruent.

1. Our request should be made correctly, as I’ve said.

2. Our meditation should also be right. Did you know that people, who aren’t even crazy, talk to themselves? We all do. Sure you do. The question is not, "Do you talk to yourself." The important question is, "What are you telling yourself?"

You see, you can make the perfect request of our Creator God, and then write "void" on it by meditating contrary to the request. The Psalmist wanted the words of his mouth and the meditations of his heart to be acceptable. If we are going to be congruent in prayer, our words and our heart must be pointed in the same direction!

3. Our conversation with others should reflect the faith with which we prayed. We often pray one thing about a person, place, or circumstance, and confess the opposite in our discussions with others. That’s double minded. And remember, a double minded man will get nothing from God! It’s God’s Word, in James, Chapter 1!

4. Our behavior should be an outward manifestation of an inward attitude. Behave in a manner that’s consistent with your request, your meditation, and your conversation. A person can’t pray for the salvation of his or her spouse, treat the spouse like he or she is a "spiritual imbecile," and expect God to move. The way you treat your spouse, child, or friend for which you are praying is also a measure of your faith. Today, treat that person like a spiritual man or woman regardless of what you see, and watch God move according to your expectation!

Watch when you pray. Watch for what, you might ask? Watch for God’s response. Most of us are fixated on our request, not God’s response. Frankly, God’s tired of being ignored. We throw a prayer His way, and about the time He begins to move on it, we throw another one, and another, and never notice what He’s already doing.

Recognize what God’s up to. He knows we will celebrate the final score (the answer) that goes on the board. But He wants us to celebrate every point that goes on the board! He said to me, "Eddie, If you’ll celebrate the movement of my finger, I’ll move my hand for you. If you’ll celebrate the movement of my hand, I’ll move my arm for you. If you’ll celebrate the movement of my arm, I’ll move mountains for you!" God is even congruent in the ways He answers prayer!

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