What the "Great Pumpkin" Has to Do With Your Prayer Life — Erica Barthalow

Don’t worry I haven’t gone crazy and forgotten what holiday is coming up. We’re just a little behind on our holiday movie viewing over here at the Barthalow house. We were catching up last weekend by watching “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” because everyone knows you must watch the entire Charlie Brown holiday suite of cartoons (in order!) every year. If you didn’t know that, consider yourself educated. 🙂

As the kids were chowing down on popcorn, I was ironing some shirts. I froze mid-swipe over a red flannel one when I heard a stricken Linus bellow, “I said if, I meant when, the Great Pumpkin comes,” and then clamp his hand over his mouth. Devastated by his gaffe, he thought his little slip showed a lack of faith in the Great Pumpkin which would cause the elusive character to pass his pumpkin patch by completely, leaving him candy and toy-less for yet another Halloween.

That line got me thinking how much my prayer life can resemble Linus in that scene. When I pray I often catch myself thinking God is sitting someplace far off (maybe a “sincere” pumpkin patch 🙂 ) listening to my prayers and waiting for me to say the exact right thing before he’ll move on my behalf. Or (if I’m feeling particularly pessimistic) waiting for me to say the wrong thing so he can “pass me by.”

I’m not going to lie. That’s a lot of pressure; feeling like I have to have the perfect words to coax God into action. And pretty demotivating (because who knows the words that impress God?!). And usually leaves me thinking God is more like a genie in the bottle than the all-powerful Creator of everything who loves to hear my voice. When I forget that fact, that all he really wants is to hear my voice, I’m a lot less likely to pray at all, and my prayers turn into a performance review where I measure his answers as approval or disapproval of me as a person. And I’ve learned that’s a dangerous and unhealthy place to live, and not at all what God intended for my prayer life.

But if I’m honest, it’s hard not to think answered prayers are a reward for my good behavior.

Face it, we’ve all had prayers that weren’t answered the way we’d like, and then we look around at another Christian who always seems to get everything they ask for in prayer and it’s difficult not to feel like God must like them more, or they have special words that cause God to act the way they want.

But God is not a manipulator, nor can he be manipulated. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about me sometimes. And that’s where I get mixed up. Thinking that God and I operate the same way.

He’s a good Father, who reveals his character to us (FYI, he’s nothing like the Great Pumpkin!) and longs to be near us. And one of the ways he comes near is through prayer. Often times I’ve pictured God like the adults passing out candy in “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” and I’m Charlie Brown holding out my bag, hoping for some delicious candy, and all that gets tossed in is a rock! This verse in Matthew 7:7-11 (The Message) is helping me have a different approach when I go to God in prayer (hopefully it helps you too):

“Don’t bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This isn’t a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we’re in. If your child asks for bread, do you trick him with sawdust? If he asks for fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? As bad as you are, you wouldn’t think of such a thing. You’re at least decent to your own children. So don’t you think the God who conceived you in love will be even better?”

I don’t know about you, but this verse is amazing to me. When I take the truth of these words to heart I no longer feel like I can (or want to) bribe God into acting the way I want by reading a few extra chapters in my Bible or being extra nice to my husband. Instead, I realize he’s a good Father that’s ready and waiting to give good gifts to me if I ask directly without any manipulation. Prayer, following the pattern in this verse, has changed me. And isn’t that what prayer is all about?

~Gut-Check and Action Steps~

1. Are you ever tempted to feel like you can manipulate God into doing something for you by the way you act? How does this verse help you with that?2. Practice following Jesus’ advice in Matthew 7:11 when you pray and note the way(s) it changes you.