Pray submitting to God's Will

So after my question about "may your will be done" the next chapter speaks to this idea of submitting to God's Will.

"To pray effectually you must pray in submission to the will of God... Do no confuse submission in prayer with a general confidence that God will do what is right. It is proper to have this confidence that God will do right in all things. But this is a different thing from submission. What i mean by submission in prayer is acquiescence in the revealed will of God. To submit to any command of God is to obey it. Submission to some supposed or possible, but secret, decree of God is not submission...."

Paraphrased: The fervency and importunity of our prayers make a difference. We always end our prayers by submitting to God's will while sometimes we do not pray earnestly for what we desire, but simply turn it all over for God to take care of while we try to be satisfied with the results.

Having confidence in God's willingness to do what is right is good.
Submitting (and obeying) God through what actually happens is also good.
I guess we have to pray with confidence but understand that sometimes we don't understand how God's will reconciles with what we don't desire.

Best example is praying for healing. Please God heal this person. It would be good, you have the power, they love you and will do good for you. That is not against God's will. But it may not be in God's will. We don't know the specifics of the situation.

Tough.

Pray for the Will of God

My summary:

The will of God is expressed to us in three ways.
1. Scripture
2. God's providence through a revelation to those with the gift of spiritual discernment
3. The Holy Spirit

We need to base our prayers through scripture. What we know God's will is through what he tells us in the word. We need to shape our prayers around that. Sometimes it is weird for me to tag on at the end "if it is your will". Should we know more what his will is in order to more confidently ask for what we know he wants to happen?

"Where there is no particular revelation, and Providence leaves it dark, and we know not what to pray for as we ought, we are expressly told that "the spirit helps us in our weakness," and "the Spirit himself intercedes for us and groans that words cannot express" (Romans 8:26). It is just as plain here as if it were revealed by a voice from heaven that the Spirit of God helps the people of God to pray according to the will of God when they themseles know not what they ought to pray for... ...When neither the Word nor Providence enables them to decide, let them be "filled with the Spirit," as God commands them to be. He says, "Be filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18). And He will lead their minds to those things God is willing to grant."

I don't know how this last part works. Any help?

Pray for something definite

Many people go away into a room alone to pray, simply because "they must say their prayers." The time has come for their daily habit of going off by themselves for prayer - whether in the morning or at noon or whatever time of day it may be. But instead of having anything particular to say, any definite object before their mind, they fall down on their knees and pray for whatever floats thought their imagination at the time, and when they are done they can hardly tell you a word of what they have said. This is not effectual prayer. What would we think of someone who would try to move a legislature, saying, "now it is winter, and the legislature is in session, and it is time to send up petitions," and would go up to the legislature and petition at random without any definite objective? Do you think such petitions would move the legislature?

Truth and Prayer

Truth, by itself will never produce the effect without the Spirit of God, and the Spirit is given in answer to prayer. Sometimes it happens that those who are the most engaged in employing truth are not the most engaged in prayer. This is always unfortunate. For unless they have a spirit of prayer (or unless someone else has), the truth, by itself, will do nothing but harden men in impenitence. Probably in the Day of Judgment it will be found that nothing is ever done by the truth, used ever so zealously, unless there is a spirit of prayer somewhere in connection with the presentation of the truth.

Others err in the reverse direction.l Not that they lay too much stress on prayer, but they overlook the fact that prayer might be offered forever, by itself, and nothing would be done. Sinners are not converted only by the direct contact of the Holy Spirit, but by the truth employed as a means. To expect the conversion of sinners by prayer alone, without the employment of truth, is to tempt God.

May our mission to grow our prayers be equally met with the desire and willingness to share truth.

Thoughts?

The Cross as a Jewel

So I brought this up a few weeks ago without much time for discussion. However, what follows is my thoughts on why the jewel analogy of the gospel should supplant the pizza analogy in the third camp catechism.

Thus sayeth the Driscoll:

"...the cross is a multi-faceted jewel. Throughout church history much ink has been spilled as various theologians and Christian traditions have debated the effects of Jesus' death...we are essentially arguing for all of the perspectives that are nourished by biblical roots in an effort to teach the totality of what Scripture says without obscuring any faithful view of the cross. One theologian has called the cross the great jewel of the Christian faith, and like every great jewel it has many precious facets that are each worthy of examining for their brilliance and beauty. Therefore, you will be well served to see each side of this jewel shining together for the glory of God in complimentary and not contradictory fashion. Most poor teaching about the cross results from someone's denying one of these facets, ignoring one of these facets, or overemphasizing one of these facets...Such narrow and reactionary theology has tragically caused the beauty of the cross to become obscured by the various warring teams that have risen up to argue for their systematic theology rather than bowing down in humble worship of the crucified Jesus."

~Mark Driscoll, Death by Love, pg. 10.

I think this explanation of the gospel/cross is a more accurate and useful analogy for how we should view the gospel in light of evangelism. Here are two specific points as to why.

1. The nature of the gospel. The pizza analogy suggests a disjointed or changing nature of the gospel. A Turney deep dish meat lovers pizza is a fundamentally different thing than a thin crust veggie lovers pizza. Further, various toppings that people put on pizza would definitely conflict if combined onto a single pie - black olive, bbq sauce and anchovies?? Gross! In contrast, the jewel analogy maintains that all aspects or facets of the gospel are ever present, of equal importance, and of complimentary use to one another.

2. Perspective v. Preference. The pizza analogy is essentially a conversation about preference, which is essentially a man-driven discussion. It runs the danger of overlooking or downplaying other "toppings" and it has subtle similarity to the concept of buffet theology. On the other hand, the jewel analogy is essentially a conversation about perspective. My life circumstances and the resulting opinions will render me in a distinct position in relation to the jewel. Thus, when I first perceive the jewel, I will perceive its beauty through a specific facet. As I grow in Christ, I grow to understand and appreciate other facets due a) increasing knowledge of the word, b) life's inevitable changes that change my position in relation to the jewel and thus how the gospel comforts, sustains and sanctifies me, and c) through the experiences of other believers whose experiences of the jewel also serve to teach me.

What are your thoughts.