I am human… God is sovereign… so I pray…
As I read through MaryKate Morse’s book “A Guidebook to Prayer: Twenty-Four Ways to Walk With God,” I realized two things. First, prayer should remind us of our humanity and second, prayer should remind us of God’s sovereignty. I think that these are the two things that we tend to forget the most. In a culture that values power and strength, our humanity is considered a sign of weakness, but it is our humanity that allows us to connect with one another and with God. If we hide our humanity, we hide from one another and we forfeit peace, joy and strength that God provides when we humble ourselves before him, and one another.
I wonder what our lives would look like if we took God’s sovereignty seriously. What would our prayers look like if we believed like Moses that our prayers could change the heart of God?
In the chapter where MaryKate covers healing prayer (p196) she points out that when we pray, we need to trust in:
- God’s timing
- God’s righteousness and justice
- God’s mystery and universal sovereignty
- God’s worthiness of our praise and trust.
Prayer is about who God is first, and who we are second. Prayer is putting our trust in God… it’s surrender… it’s acceptance… it’s the acceptance of our humanity and intentionally positioning ourselves under the sovereignty of God.
About the Author
Stefania Tarasut
8 responses to “I am human… God is sovereign… so I pray…”
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Stefania,
Short and sweet. Thanks for your good post. I especially like this, “I wonder what our lives would look like if we took God’s sovereignty seriously.” Great question! I have a phrase that I have lived by for many years. It goes like this: “God is more sovereign than I am stupid.” Why is this important to me?
I am not necessarily a Calvinist, but I do believe in God’s Sovereignty. I believe that God will win and that even my stupidity cannot stop His ability to do His will. There are many who disagree and that is OK with me, but this belief is at the core of who I am. It allows me to wake up to face another day every morning.
So where does prayer fit into all of this? I think prayer is inevitably about relationship with God. We can actually experience what we cannot see. Prayer always takes faith, the very thing that pleases God. How cool is that? We miss out when we fail to pray. I know, since I am often so focused on something other than God, and then I do not pray. I think God longs for us to have relationship with Him, and that is really what prayer is all about. “Thy (sovereign) will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Amen.
Stefania, I enjoyed reading your post! The title was a starter for me. I totally agree with the statement “I am human… God is sovereign… so I pray…” This is why I believe anyone can pray and commune with God.
I believe that prayer is a human and mystical experience. There is freedom in knowing humanity can seek God’s intervention in human life through various forms of prayer.
Thank you
Michael
Hi Stefania
Really love your summary of Morse’s book. You’re so right. Prayer reminds us of our humanity. In fact, we can only truly pray if we are aware of this fact. This past few months, I have become increasingly aware of my own humanity and weaknesses. In ministry, and I’m sure you’d agree, we can only truly help others in partnership with God. And that starts with a recognition of the two points you wrote about. Thank you for your posting Stefania.
Stefania, your title is so captivating and a great reminder that “I am human… God is sovereign… so I pray…”
I love your remind us to intentionally position ourselves under the sovereignty of God. It is not only how often we pray but how more we pray intentionally. Thank you for your insights.
Stefania… I love your words. So simple and honest. This reminded me of Matt Redman’s song “Heart of Worship.” He wrote the song about making worship about something other than God. We get so sidetracked, so distracted, so showy…when worship is really about God. You remind us of the same thing… Prayer is about God. It is about His sovereignty. I love that. Thank you for bringing us back to the heart of prayer.
Nice, Stefania. Really nice.
As others noted, not long but quite specific. And the weight of it – God is SOVEREIGN. (Yes, I just type shouted.) But He is and I think our world/culture has little concept of what that means. And then to consider that my prayer might change His mind? Mind-boggling!
Thanks for the appropriate Wow.
Stefania, thanks for your post. I like it.
I want to reflect for a moment…can we really say that prayer is about God first and ourselves second? Is this actually possible?
The part where you offer this toward the end of your reflection seems to actually be opposite to how you begin your piece…which is that prayer should first remind us of our humanity.
Of course, you mean that prayer should prioritize God over us and in some ways — when I’m not overthinking things — I agree. However, it is interesting that God in sending God’s self and suffering crucifixion actually prioritized us over God’s self and we are asked to follow the model of our Lord.
I wonder if prayer in a sense ought to be most about rightly relating ourselves to ourselves based on the model that we have seen God manifest? Through this, we then offer right worship to God. That is, we best honor God’s sovereignty by actually living as God lived, by modeling our lives after God’s example.
Anyhow, all this to say, the whole first and second thing gets tricky in my mind. “The second is like unto the first,” eh? Love of God and Love of Neighbor. “Inasmuch as you’ve done it unto the least of these…you’ve done it unto me.” Not sure we’re meant to try to separate it as much as we often try to do — at least in some of the ways we’re considering it…
Kind of a chicken and egg thing to me…I’m just going to hope to care well for both. 🙂
Thanks again for your post.
Stefania….
Your post title (and subsequently your post) says it all. I don’t think I really like my humanity all the time (geesh, I really said that). But we are and God is sovereign and so we pray. BAM! (as Miriam might say). I love the way you draw the essential essence out and frame it in such a way that the light improves and I can see better.