Passion Driven Prayer

Lord, we love to obey your laws; our heart’s desire is to glorify your name. All night long I search for you; earnestly I seek for God. For only when you come to judge the earth will people turn from wickedness and do what is right. - Isaiah 26:8-9

In the beginning, God created. Have you ever considered why? Have you ever stopped to wonder why a limitless, all-powerful God who needs nothing would choose to create creatures that He knew for a fact (due to His ability to foreknow the future) would spit in His face?

It couldn’t have been out of a desire to be worshipped, for that would be narcissistic and in the history of His interaction with man, He has never shown anything but the desire to serve us. It can’t be because we possess something He needs to live or to be happy, because He has constantly told us there is nothing we have that could hold Him or satisfy Him. Didn’t He say, “I have no need for your offerings, I do not desire the blood of bulls. Do I not own all the cattle on all the hills?”

So, why did He do it? If we examine the history of man’s relationship with God, we see the answer. He wanted someone to receive His love. That’s His desire. Love is what created the universe; love is what sustains it; what keeps it running - simple love. This is not sterile reductionism. It is so much more fulfilling than the random accidents of atheistic evolutionary theory. The fundamental principle of the universe is passion – desire. It is God’s desire to love us.

In the same way, we can participate in the continuing sustention of the universe by desiring Him. By longing for God the way God longs for us, we form a cycle, a circuit if you will, that powers the universe. When we long for God, we desire what’s best for Him. What’s best for Him is what’s best for us, so we get what we need. That’s the way to pray. “Not my will but Thine be done.” “Seek first the kingdom of God and THEN all these things will be added to you.”

Happiness is a by-product of searching for God. Joy is a by-product of righteousness. Power is a by-product of proximity to God. Our problem is that we search for these things as an end to themselves. We pray, “God, give me this. God, make him or her give me that. God, make that happen. God, I don’t like such and such – make it go away.” But we cannot find fulfillment in things. We dare not trust the empowerment of mere man. We mustn’t expect to find peace, happiness, joy, or value in anything but the desire for God. A passion for holiness (“Be ye holy as I am holy”) should be the central point of our prayers.