Joel

Revelation 5 

“For this is what the LORD says—He who created the heavens, He is God; He who fashioned and made the earth, He founded it; He did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited—He says: ‘I am the LORD, and there is no other.’” —Isaiah 45:18

Many years ago, I was preaching through New Zealand, moving from the south to the north. On my last morning, I received a telephone call. A young lady was on the other end of the line and she told me, “I just want to tell you that I slept last night for the first time in six years and I want to thank you for it.” I thought, “Well, my preaching must have been ‘very good’ that night; it sent her to sleep.” She continued, “There is an issue in my life that I had been hanging on to and asking God to do specifically in my life. For the last six years, I had been praying every day about this thing. And for the last six years, I have never slept through the night.”

The lady attended my preaching on Hezekiah, where I made the point: “When you insist on your own way with God, He may give you a ‘Manasseh.’” The lady told me, “I went home after your talk and knelt by my bed saying, ‘God, forgive me. I might’ve been asking without knowing it for a Manasseh. I no longer want to ask you for this thing. I only want Your will to be done in my life.’ Afterwards, I slept through the night for the first time in six years.” I responded to her, “I am thrilled to know this. Don’t ever take it back from God. Whatever you’ve given to Him, keep it with Him.”

Prayer, like the Christian life, centers and revolves around God Himself. About two centuries ago, there was a common assumption that the earth was in a fixed position and the sun rotated around the earth. Galileo was one of the first to discover that the sun is the fixed point and the earth revolved around the sun. Because of Galileo’s belief, he was declared a heretic by the

Roman Catholic Church, and only three decades ago did the Vatican finally restore Galileo to the church.

Similarly, we need a revolution like this in our life. Some of us believe we are the fixed point and God revolves around us. When that is our understanding, prayer is simply presenting a celestial shopping list to God telling Him all the things we want Him to do and to give us. In reality, the fixed point is God and we are the ones who revolve around Him.

As we pray, is it God’s kingdom and His will that our prayers are concerned with? Like acknowledging how the earth revolves around the sun, we may need a revolutionary change in our perspective of the Christian life and how we pray.

Almighty God, I ask for a revolutionary change in my life, where You are the center of my universe and I revolve around You. I ask for Your kingdom and Your will to be done in and through my life. Thank You, God.