My good friend Mike at Church For Men Florida posted a great article recently about the phrases “Let me pray on that” and “That’s not my spiritual gift.” Here is what he wrote:
The phrase “Let Me Pray On That” can also mean the following:
1. I have no intention of doing it.
2. I am stalling and or I don’t want to make a decision.
3. I am using the phrase “Let Me Pray On That” as a crutch
The phrase “That’s Not My Spiritual Gift” can also mean the following:
1. I am lazy
2. I don’t want to do it.
3. Isn’t there some other poor schmuck we can get to do it?
How true.
I remember once asking a member of my church youth group if he could help me out with something one weekend, and he said he had to ask his dad. I happened to overhear the exchange, and when the young man asked, his father said, “I’ll pray about it.” As the father walked away, the young man turned back to me and said, “That means ‘no.'”
People aren’t stupid. They see what we are doing.
God Told Me…
Another phrase that gets abused a lot is “God told me…” I personally think that many Christians use this to justify their own decisions and keep people from questioning the decision or voicing dissent. After all, you can’t argue with God.
Of course, if God did not really tell the person what they are claiming He did, then they are putting words into God’s mouth, and laying 0n Him the blame for our poorly made human decisions. This, I think, qualifies as using the Lord’s name in vain. Whenever we use God’s name to justify our own actions, we are on very dangerous territory.
We call this speaking Christianeze! I think these are good points- but I would be careful- attaching judgement to motives without knowing for sure can be a slippery slope and a form of Christianeze itself.
I find this especially disturbing.
“Another phrase that gets abused a lot is “God told me…” I personally think that many Christians use this to justify their own decisions and keep people from questioning the decision or voicing dissent.”
You nailed it! Sometimes I want to say, “Oh, that reminds me, God told me to tell you that what He told you before is canceled.”
But God always tells me to hold my tongue.
God told me to tell you that because I don’t have the gift of discernment, I should pray about this post before I decide if it’s true or not.
Just kidding! (as I take cover from lightning bolts)
Jeremy,
About 10 years ago, my assistant pastor and a missionary friend of mine ganged up on me at a missions conference, trying to get me to agree to take a short-term trip to Russia that next summer.
I got them off my back by telling them I would pray about it.
Being a young man of integrity, I did what I had said I would do: “Dear God, they think it would be a good idea for me to go to Russia. Isn’t that funny?”
Several months later, I got off a train in Izhevsk. The time I spent there was a key formative experience in my early preparation for ministry.
“When we are faithless, He remains faithful…”
Tim,
Great story. I don’t mind people using the statement “I’ll pray about it” if they will actually pray about it…and be open to receiving God’s guidance on the issue. For myself, I know that in the past, I have said, “I’ll pray about it” knowing full well that I had already made up my mind on the issue.
By the way, great post on Psychology recently. Your parting statement in that post struck a chord with me.
Jeremy,
Thanks for your kind words. I’ve been doing some looking around at other fights to see what I could learn about how to do it well/poorly. Good lessons abound.
Re. guidance and “I’ll pray about it.” Thing is, I wasn’t really open to God’s guidance on that one. I was trying to get a decent job for the first time in my life, and there was no way I could pull that off if I was going to take an 8-week trip to Russia 7 months later. I was most resistant to the idea, and told them I’d pray about it purely because I knew there was nothing they could say after that.
I prayed about it, exactly as described, once, so I could say I had.
Thing is, when you dial that number, Someone picks up the phone.
His,
Tim
Thanks for the link and the ink. God Bless You and your ministry. I pray that God will use you today and everyday.
Excellent points.
Have you read ‘Decision-making and the Will of God’ by Garry Friesen?
Matthew,
I think I have, but I can’t remember. I know I own it…
All my books are in boxes right now, otherwise, I would pull it out and see if I have marked it up… I know it is a classic.