This is part of my year-long series exploring human-centered alternatives to the spiritual promises in Oswald Chambers’ classic devotional My Utmost for His Highest. Today’s entry, “Prayer in the Father’s Hearing,” promises that when “the Son of God is formed in me” through the indwelling Holy Spirit, “God will always hear my prayers,” claiming that believers become “temples of the Holy Spirit” where “the prayer of the eternal Son to his Father” is prayed through them, with “supernatural sense” from the Son detecting the Father and Christ’s life being “manifested in us” moment by moment.
Here’s what trusting that the Son formed within enables God to always hear your prayers actually delivered:
“When the Son of God is formed in you, God will always hear your prayers,” Pastor Chen declared with spiritual authority. “You are a temple of the Holy Spirit. The prayer of the eternal Son to His Father is being prayed through you. Don’t let common sense push the Son aside—supernatural sense detects the Father. Is Christ’s life being manifested in you moment by moment?”
Greg had been desperately praying for his small construction business during the economic downturn, watching contracts dry up and facing bankruptcy despite fifteen years of successful operation. The promise that having the Son formed within him would guarantee that God always heard his prayers seemed like the spiritual assurance he needed that divine intervention would save his company and employees.
Greg desperately wanted to believe that the Son of God formed within him would create the supernatural sense and divine hearing that Chambers described. For months, he spent early morning hours seeking to experience the Son praying through him about his business crisis, trying to let the prayer of the eternal Son to the Father flow through his mortal flesh rather than relying on common sense about business strategy. He practiced what he called “Son-formed prayer,” attempting to set aside practical planning and trust that supernatural sense would detect the Father’s will for his company.
Day after day, Greg knelt in his empty office seeking signs that God was hearing the prayers of the Son formed within him, waiting for divine intervention that would save his business through supernatural means rather than human planning. He tried to manifest Christ’s life moment by moment while avoiding practical steps like renegotiating contracts, cutting expenses, or exploring new markets, believing that common sense would push the Son aside and prevent the Father from hearing the eternal Son’s prayer flowing through him. When concerned advisors suggested business restructuring, financial counseling, or even strategic partnerships, he declined, trusting that the indwelling Son would provide supernatural solutions that common sense could never detect.
But the promised divine hearing through the Son formed within was business failure disguised as spiritual dependence.
Greg’s desperate attempts to experience the Son praying through him produced no sense of divine hearing, no supernatural intervention, no indication that God was listening to the eternal Son’s prayer supposedly flowing through his mortal flesh. Despite months of seeking Christ’s life manifested moment by moment and trying to let supernatural sense detect the Father, no business solutions emerged, no divine provision materialized, no sense of God hearing his prayers developed. The silence grew more crushing each week as contracts disappeared while he waited for the Father to hear the Son’s prayer through him.
Meanwhile, Greg’s competitor Marcus approached the same economic downturn through immediate business strategy consultation. When Marcus faced similar construction industry challenges, he hired business advisors, restructured his operations, diversified into renovation work, and focused entirely on evidence-based survival strategies for small businesses during recession.
Marcus’s approach came through financial analysis, market adaptation, and strategic planning. His construction company survived the downturn through sustained practical work rather than waiting for divine hearing through the indwelling Son.
When Greg finally abandoned his search for supernatural sense and sought business counseling, he discovered that economic downturns required understanding market dynamics and operational efficiency. The months he’d spent trusting the Son formed within had been months he could have used adapting his business model to changed economic conditions.
Where was the divine hearing that the Son formed within was supposed to guarantee? Where was the supernatural sense that should detect the Father and manifest Christ’s life through business crisis?
The survival that actually worked came from business strategy and market adaptation. The silence where God was supposed to be hearing the Son’s prayer revealed the truth: there was no divine hearing available through the indwelling Son, no supernatural sense detecting an absent Father.
Only economic recession and business challenges that required practical understanding and strategic adaptation, not supernatural sense seeking divine hearing from a God who provided no intervention for failing businesses regardless of spiritual dependence.
Reflection Question: When has seeking business strategy consultation been more effective than trusting that the Son formed within you guarantees God always hears your prayers?
This story is part of my upcoming book “The Undevoted: Daily Departures from Divine Dependence,” which offers 365 human-centered alternatives to the spiritual certainties in Chambers’ devotional. Each day explores how reason, community, and human resilience can address life’s challenges without requiring divine intervention.
God or Delusion? 