Praying with Discernment

Summary: The way to pray better is to ask the holy spirit to give you the words.

I have been reading a wide range of books about discernment. While I am broadly interested in prayer, my focus in reading Praying With Discernment was on the discernment part, not the prayer part. I knew this was a self-published book and would likely disagree with much of it. I want to ensure I am not ignoring ideas about discernment because they come from streams of Christianity I am less attracted to.

This book is filled with stories of miracles. I have read many similar stories of praying for miracles and seeing them come to pass. I have personally seen some of those miracles, and I have, at times, been very attracted to the power of prayer shown in this book. I have listened to preachers advocate for the expression of power in prayer as a means of evangelism. But I have also watched the distorting effect of prayer when discernment seems to get lost.

I am also put off by some of the frivolousness of some of the prayers. This next story is an example.

“On another occasion, this friend took a small group with him to share their testimonies at a church. Before they arrived at their destination, they stopped for breakfast. Shortly after entering the restaurant the sky turned dark and it began to rain. In fact, it rained so hard that it would be impossible for any of them to get to the car without becoming completely drenched. When it was time to leave, my friend calmly and confidently said, “It will stop raining when we reach the front door. Let's go.” Everyone got up and went to the front door. The instant the first person touched the door it stopped raining! Everyone got in the car without a drop of rain falling on them.”

“You Must Recognize There are Two Types of Promises. In broad terms, there are promises you can and promises you cannot claim. For example, some of God's promises are restricted to a certain party (like Joshua's guarantee of success wherever he went –– Josh. 1:7-8) or to a specific period of time (like Israel's promise to be saved from all her enemies after the second coming of Christ (Zech. 14:16-21). You cannot merely find a promise in the Bible and make it your own. You must first be sure that it is not already designated for someone else.”

“A distraught mother refused to be comforted when she learned that her son was involved in a deadly accident. When the pastor visited her, she lashed out at him and shouted, “Where was your God when my son was killed?!” The pastor wisely answered her question: “He was at the same place when His own Son was killed . . . He was on the Throne.” There are no genuine accidents, not as long as God is seated on His Throne!”

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