The Four Deceptive D’s

I know that some will disagree

And with this, I have no problem

But before you do, read right through,

This is not a referendum.

There are four D’s that bother me

Especially when used together,

In recent times their use has decreased

But for me, it is still a bother.

Their use display some selfishness

Along with some arrogance too,

Some may deem it “praying in faith”

But for me, that is a dim view.

These four D’s I will now introduce

Desire, Demand, Declare, Decree,

If you take offense right away

I trust in the end you will agree.

Read on is all I ask of you

Please read on to the very end,

And if at the end you don’t agree

Be assured you are still my friend.

Desire is what we feel we want

And there is nothing wrong with this

But all too often in our selfishness

There is quite a lot we miss.

From Desire to Demand

The rolling out of human nature,

What we desire we must definitely get

And so we put God in the picture.

Yes we pray it too

To God, we make our demand

And by faith, we approach His throne

As though He is our magic wand.

Confess and possess, that is faith,

Walk right into your miracle,

This daring delusion of the mind

Certainly is not a Bible principle.
  

“Put it in the atmosphere!”

Hence the notion of Declare!

The ideology of "believe you have it"

Thus rejecting all doubts and fear.

Just one more “D” to employ

And this process complete,

Now Decree as a king would do

And later, this same prayer repeat.

Do you see what I mean?

Desire, Demand, Declare, Decree

When we pray like this

We disrespect the Almighty.

We are advised to wait on God

To leave the matter in His hand,

To trust in Him whatever befall

And simply do what He commands.

In such a case we have His peace

And not necessarily what we ask,

He determines what is best for us

And this truth we need to grasp.

So when you pray or even preach

Remember, God is in control,

Desire you may, but don’t Demand

Whatever position you hold.

Declare and Decree, please omit

That is God’s special domain,

To think He puts such in human hands

Is to think as one insane.

I trust by now you see

What I have been trying to say,

Sometimes in an effort to impress

We clearly go out of the way.

Keep it simple when you pray

And follow the tenets of the Word,

God is about His glory and our good

To think otherwise is absurd.

Stewart Russell © May 2019