Please Don't Treat God Like a Genie

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There is a well-known quote that says, "Prayer doesn't change God - it changes me!" But how often is it that Christians forget that God is not their personal genie? He's not some magical being that grants wishes taken straight from Middle Eastern mythologies and Islamic superstition. Sure, Jesus Christ is my personal Savior but I'm also His personal servant. It's because He is my personal Lord and Savior and not one without the other. He may be my Savior but it's only because He is my Lord. If your Jesus is not Lord then you really aren't saved. You better make sure your Jesus is Lord or you aren't saved.

I was thinking about one of the reasons why I nearly became an atheist while I was still a Roman Catholic. I could remember why I threw a stone at the altar with "Mama Mary" on it because I was treating it like a genie. I remembered getting mad at God because I treated Him like a genie. But if he's a genie then he must grant almost every wish around whether good or bad. Then again even fictitious genies may set rules on what wishes they can and can't grant. How much more would the real holy God not set rules what we can pray and not pray for?

Whether we like it or not but no is still an answer to your prayers. If God says no then you better accept it. Many times, God tells you no and doesn't say yes for your own protection. The act of prayer is a servant asking for supplication from the Master. True, Jesus came to serve and not to be served (Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45, John 13:1-7) yet He is also Lord. Jesus washed the feet of the disciples yet He still remains their Lord. John 15:14-15 has the test of true salvation by saying you are His friends if you do as He says. That's a test of real obedience. If Jesus is your Savior then He is also your Lord. If He's not your Lord then He was never your Savior!

1 John 15:14 writes this truth that you can only have confidence in prayers if you ask anything according to His will. There's the joke that says, "Dear God thy will be done but give me John." John is an unbeliever. How can you expect God to honor prayers that don't honor Him? Marrying an unbeliever is definitely a no-no. If you're praying for something for your selfish reasons then it's pretty much not what prayer is about. If you take a look at the Lord's sample prayer - you need to keep in mind the words, "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven." God will never say yes to anything that doesn't glorify Him. Sometimes, He even denies deliverance for a reason which I can't even fully explain why. Yet Job understood in part early on when he said in Job 2:10 saying, "Shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall not we receive evil?" That was before Job soon drowned in his self-pity and self-righteousness that he didn't know he had.

God will not always directly answer prayers for a reason. You can think of how often God wants us to continue praying to teach us patience. Jesus told the story of the unjust judge in Luke 18:1-8 to teach men not to faint as they pray. The unjust judge eventually decided to give the widow justice. How much more God who is the Just Judge? There's a saying that justice delayed is justice denied. However, be careful when you ask for justice as you might be the one struck down by it. As I was reading the late R.C. Sproul Sr.'s book "The Holiness of God" - I realized I tend to think of Amazing Justice than Amazing Grace. How often do I think it's unfair bad things happen to me while the wicked prosper? Do I forget sometimes the wicked's own prosperity can be their downfall? Sometimes, God answers differently like sending trials before blessings as a means of preparation. It's like a businessman who renovates his facilities so he and his employees can function better. Then you have delays which aren't God's denials. It's because God's timing is way more perfect.

Instead, the very rule of prayer is simple. It shouldn't be about changing God. It's all about changing you. It's all about asking for God's grace to keep you on the right path. Reading through Psalms - it's all about David wanting God's will to be done. Jacob learned the hard way that prayer is all about God when He wrestled with a pre-incarnate Christ in Genesis 32. Jacob realized that it was the Son of God in human form prior to the incarnation. Jacob didn't change God in Peniel but rather God changed Him there! God can never changed by people one bit. Instead, it's God who changes people by a massive scale!

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