Yes! Yes!

There are certain prayers we pray that are guaranteed to be answered.  Others...not so much.  Let's take a little quiz.  Which prayer might God be inclined to answer and which one might He ignore?

• "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us."
• "Oh Lord, would you buy me a Mercedes Benz?"

We set ourselves up for disappointment and failure when we pray out of the will of God.  On the other hand, we set ourselves up for success and a joy-filled life when we offer up the kinds of prayers that make God smile.  This is a pretty easy concept for any parent to understand.  Which request from one of my children would I be more inclined to smile about?

• "Mom, I need you to take me to the mall.  And I need money for the movie, food, and those jeans I've been wanting."
• "Mom, after all you've done for me today, how about you sit down with a cup of tea and let me do the dishes?"

Well, it COULD happen...

In the course of pondering Mark 12:30 ("Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all you strength."), I came upon a fascinating verse that gives us a clue how to begin this process:

"The Lord will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love Him with all your heart and all your soul, and live." (Deuteronomy 30:6)

This verse shows up about twenty chapters after one similar to it:

"Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer." (Deuteronomy 10:16)

One verse says God will do the circumcising while the other one tells us to do it ourselves.  Rather than get hung up on any imagined contradictions, I choose to interpret it as a both/and, rather than an either/or.  Both are important.  When we see something that needs to be dealt with in our lives, we need to act on it immediately.  When we don't, a covering begins to encase our heart and we become harder and harder to the things of God.  At the same time, we need God to do the heavy work, and we need to cooperate with His work in our life.

I am praying everyday that God would circumcise my heart - that He would cut away whatever stands in the way of my complete love for him - the "with all your heart" kind of love.  I believe this is the kind of prayer that God is dying to answer, and as I pray it with all my heart, He will carve away at anything that stands between me and His perfect will for my life.