A Good Complaint? (Updated)

 

Is there such a thing as a good complaint? Actually understanding the difference between a good complaint and a bad complaint can have a powerful impact on your life.

The Bad Complaint

Here is a good example of a bad complaint:

Numbers 11:1 Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.

Notice that this kind of complaining ticked God off. I am not sure about you, but that is not my idea of a good plan. You can also notice here that the complaining was among each other and God was just listening in to the conversation.

It seems from scripture that bad complaining is internal: person to person. Paul encourages people to avoid this. Philippians 2:14-“Do everything without grumbling or arguing”.

A Good Complaint

But there is another kind of complaining mentioned in the Bible that shows us a way out.

Psalms 142 verse 1-2 shows us the complaint of David:

I cry aloud to the Lord;
I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy.
I pour out before him my complaint;
before him I tell my trouble.

The key difference is where he brought his complaint. He brought it into the presence of God. And when he processed his emotions into his prayer time and his perspective was encouraged by the end of the chapter.

The encouragement of scripture is to not be going around complaining to others. We are encouraged to, “pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.” (Psalms 62:8)

[tweetthis]Pour out your heart to God. You will find safety there! [/tweetthis]

So today rather than wandering to the water cooler to have a grumble fest, why don’t you take it into your time with God?

For more on Emotion and Prayer go here.

Short prayers: A small change to power your life (Updated)

pocket watch at 3:55

I love instigating things. It can be dangerous if I am daring my brother-in-law to climb through the McDonalds play land, but at the same time simple changes can make a big impact on our lives. This is true of short prayers. Short prayers become the punctuation of our life and the space that fills our moments with power. We can even make it a little game. Missionary Frank Laubach made the challenge to have a “Game with minutes.” The goal was to see if he could turn his thoughts to God even one second for every minute of the day. Do you think you could do that? Here are 3 quick ways to improve your score.

  • Shoot your prayers up.

Nehemiah was about to have an important meeting with the king and so he shot a prayer to heaven. As you go through your day try to bring every challenge that you face and launch it heavenward.

[tweetthis]Bring every challenge that you face and launch it heavenward[/tweetthis]

  • Shoot your prayers through people.

Author Mark Batterson in speaking of Frank Laubach brought up an idea I really like. He suggested as you go through your day shooting people with prayer in your mind as if they were arrows. Next time at the Wal-Mart checkout line send short arrows of prayer through the people in front of you or the person helping you check out. It might be the prayer that pushes them over the edge to run to Jesus.

  • Shoot Bible prayers inward.

In church history we read about what I like to call “breath prayers”. The idea is simply holding some scripture in your heart all day long as a source of prayer. For example I could pray the prayer Jesus taught, “Have mercy on me a sinner.” As often as it comes to mind pray that simple sentence over your life. Pick short prayers from the Bible or come up with your own like: “Lord help me to live today as if it was the Super bowl of my life.”

Each time you steal moments with God in prayer you are connecting to the source of true power. Today, how many minutes could you give God at least one second? Tomorrow you can try to beat your score from today. And I bet that if you ever get to a full day of minutes you would write to me to say thanks. Are you game?

[tweetthis]Each time you steal moments with God in prayer you are connecting to the source of true power[/tweetthis]

The explosive power of short prayers (Updated)

Even a short time for prayer can make a big difference. I was thinking about the contest that Elijah took on with the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18). The god who answered by fire would be the true God. In answer to Elijah’s prayer fire came down and consumed the sacrifice. Some important truths for prayer from the story:

  • Short prayer made the difference.

I looked at several different Bible translations of the prayer that Elijah prayed and read it out load. It took about 20 seconds. Yet this short prayer brought an answer by fire. Yes, he was probably in an attitude of prayer the whole time this event was going on, but his prayer was only 20 seconds. I can find 20 seconds in various parts of my day to see what God will do in my life. Later in the day he would see again the value of persistent prayer, yet sometimes God will answer in a moment. Elijah was like us and he prayed and God answered. (See James 5)

  • It wasn’t even a contest between God and the enemy.

Looking at the story, the prophets of Baal prayed for a long time and got no results. It wasn’t like they got a little bit of fire while God sent a lot of fire. No, they got nothing and God had a pyrotechnic display. This is an important truth to remember in prayer. When we go to God in prayer it is not to a god who is weak and unable to answer. When we battle in prayer it is not against an enemy that is somehow equal to God.

  • A dramatic change can come in a short period of time.

In the course of a day there was a powerful change in the country as a result of God’s move that day. God spoke to me years ago to the effect, “I can do in a moment what would take you a lifetime.” I have found this to be true. It is amazing the how the landscape can change quickly in answer to our prayer.

[tweetthis]God can do in a moment what would take us a lifetime.[/tweetthis]

So even if we only have moments it is not excuse from going into God’s presence to ask. What answers to prayer have you had that came as a result of a short prayer? What if you gave God the next 20 seconds?