YHWH is not a hairdresser

[here's my latest article in to the magazine. if you think it's awful, let me know soon before it goes to the printers! oh, and I know the picture is bad...it's from my first hair-plaiting experience]Have you ever said a prayer like this: “Dear God, Oh I do not know what I need...but you must have some ideas...so just do something about it, would you? Amen.” These prayers remind me of how I speak to my tailor or hairdresser. Can you relate? I often walk into the salon, sit down in the chair and say exactly that or “Fix me up right.” In trying to get wrappers made with Nigerian fabric, I am clueless and end up relying on the expertise and experience of my tailor. Most of the time, things turn out all right. But I have a feeling it all would go a lot better if I had been a little more specific. Thankfully, my tailor and God both deal with my laziness graciously and continue to allow me to approach them in this manner. Lately, however, I have begun to think that prayers like that are weak and complacent. One can, respectfully, imagine God hearing that prayer, raising an eyebrow, and replying, “Call me again when you decide to get serious.”
In Matthew 6:8 Jesus tells His disciples that “Our Father knows what we need before we ask,” so I am not saying God needs us to tell him. Perhaps the more important question is—do we know what we need? Do we take the time and energy to really allow God to search our hearts, know our anxious thoughts, and show us the aspects of our lives that maybe hurtful, as David prayed in Psalm 139:23-24? As Elizabeth Gilbert says, “Casting yourself at God’s feet in helpless desperation is all well and good—heaven knows, I have done it myself plenty of times—but ultimately you are likely to get more out of the experience if you can take some action on your end.” Over and over in scripture we read how people of faith prayed boldly, deliberately, and specifically, while still being humble and reverent. Moses asked for God to reveal His glory to him, (Ex. 33:18) Elisha asked two bears to come and attack 42 youths (2 Kings 2:24), Jabez prayed to have his territory enlarged (1 Chronicles 4:10), Paul prayed that the Ephesians would know the full dimensions of God’s love (Eph. 3:18), and Jesus prayed to be glorified in the Father’s presence (John 17:1)! Those are some deliberate prayers AND are prayers that resulted in God’s action. I am challenged to take the privilege and discipline of prayer more seriously. Instead of treating God like my tailor or hairdresser and saying, “Take this and do what you do best” or like a genie that we give our selfish wishes to for Him to grant, what if we treated Him like a friend (John 15:15), a coworker (2 Cor. 6:1), a loving Father (2 Cor. 6:18), and the Lover of our souls (Song of Songs 6:3)? Perhaps then, we would be more personal and authentic in our conversations with Him. Also, we might just see the hand of God moving on our behalf. In the ministry of ECWA Camp Youth Alive, I have been privileged to see the Lord’s hand at work many times just in the past 1½ years. When we had a very small time frame to raise a very large amount of money for a critical piece of land at our campsite, prayer warriors were called upon and within a month, all the money had come in from unexpected sources. When registration was low for Jos ECYA camp 2009, we hit our knees and specifically asked for the Lord to make a way and bring youth to fill the spots at camp. The result? Our senior week of camp was 15 people over capacity! And despite the rugged and vulnerable environments where many of our camps take place, the Lord has answered our fervent by protecting ECYA so that we’ve never experienced snake bites or serious injuries. I’m also seeing answers to my prayers for growth through discipleship after camp. Many of the volunteer camp staff have caught the vision for discipleship and are following up with their campers throughout the year. This can have far-reaching effects on the spiritual lives, both of the campers and the staff. In view of this, I echo the prophet Habakkuk’s prayer,
“Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord. Renew them in our day, In our time make them known;” (Hab. 3:2)
Having seeing God’s power in answering prayer, I’m encouraged to continue being purposeful, personal, Spirit-led, and specific in my prayers. For ECYA this means coming to my knees and asking the Lord to send 15 new volunteer staff who are passionate about Christ and making His love known among the youth. I am praying for churches, fellowship groups, and individuals to commit to being monthly supporters of ECYA. Specifically, we are trusting God for 100 supporters to start a commitment of at least N 1,000/month this year. I am also being honest with God and acknowledging my limited strength, and pleading for Him to sustain me and the rest of the office each Sunday as we visit churches raising awareness for camp 2009. Even as I write, I am praying and looking forward to seeing how the Lord will answer. This is part of “getting more out of the experience.” More importantly, I believe God is more glorified when we lay aside our complacency and stop treating him like our hairdresser or tailor. After all, our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer deserves WAY more than that.