I have heard all my life that I can't have it both ways. Whatever the ways were, they couldn't exist together as a single option. It seems that this entry of Chambers wants it both ways. I get a bit confused with the last two paragraphs, because they seem to post two mutually exclusive things; ask, but don't expect things to change, expect you to change. So prayer is about changing (or being changed) rather than our circumstances changing? So, what am I asking for?
I honestly don't go to my Master for things I can handle. There's no sense in asking Him to take something that is my responsibility. Not that I have "power" over something, but that I have the responsibility to handle. But circumstances are often way out of my control, and are supposed to be that way. That's one of the more common things I pray for; that the sick will be well, that His Spirit will move in a community, that my Master persists with a particular person to save them. These are things I cannot control, and they are circumstances.
I already expect that my Master will change me. I need it, and know I need change. I know I need submission, but I may pray for courage, for determination, or/and for wisdom to be submissive. I do pray for change within myself, but that is not the only thing I pray for. When I pray, I reach for the touch of my Master, and that changes me. When I pray I seek to hear not just speak (I'm not as successful here). When I pray, I am supposed to speaking to the Master of the entire Universe, even on a micro-cosmic scale, so asking for circumstances outside of my control to change makes sense.
Some circumstances I live in because that is where my Master put me. I live in very economically, emotionally, and spiritually depressed place. I am not praying that God change that, I am working in submission to Him to influence that. I don't want change to make my life easier. I live next to a husband/wife (or boyfriend/girlfriend) who do not know my Master and don't seem interested. I can't make that change in their lives, and they are in danger of my Master moving on to someone else, of that callousness of spirit that becomes immune to my Master's Spirit. I pray for His persistence with them. I can't make Him do that, so I ask.
Some of my circumstances are circumstances that I am supposed to pray for Him to change. I guess that is really my point. I believe I am supposed to pray for marriages, for people, for my own growth, for the continued work of my Master, and so much more that He brings to my mind. I may get a customer on the phone where my sales pitch becomes a counseling session because they are in crisis and have no one to talk to. I may run across someone at the store who I strike up a conversation with while in the endless checkout line. These are situations where prayer is appropriate, and I do the appropriate thing (sometimes anyway).
I know that it's true that prayer changes me, but I also know that my ability to changes things is very limited, regardless of the changes in me. So, I change, my attitude and perspective of situations change, and the world continues to march toward hell? I don't think that is my Master's plan. I doubt that is what Chambers meant, but the last paragraph left me with that sense. Again, editorial processes left clarification on the editing floor. But at least there is the middle paragraph which calls me to ask boldly and audaciously. I like audacious. Today, I will be audacious with my prayer. I suppose I better be careful what I ask for?
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