People wrongly think that Heaven is a supermarket, and prayer is a shopping list! We spend too much time asking God for our material needs and physical blessings. There needs to be a very strong and deliberate correction in this area. Once again, we will get back to the Lord’s Prayer in His Sermon
on the Mount (Mt 6:9-13). The seven requests in this prayer are: Hallowed be Your Name; Your Kingdom come; Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven; Give us this day our daily bread; Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors; Lead us not into temptation; Deliver us from evil. If you carefully look at these seven requests, you will find only one of the seven refers to the material or physical or physiological need. The first three refer to the things of God: His Name, His Kingdom and His Will. And the last three refer to our “spiritual” needs: forgiveness of sins, victory over temptation and deliverance from evil.
Beloved, this should be the balance in our prayer. Yearn first for the things of God and then pray for your spiritual needs. These are the priorities. Only one out of the seven requests in the model Prayer is regarding our physical or material needs. This is where the people of Israel miserably failed. God
brought them out of Egypt. He had large spiritual objectives concerning them. He wanted them to become a worshipping community. He wanted to use them to destroy all that was evil and wicked. He desired that they would be the chosen people through whom the entire world would be blessed. When they completely
lost sight of these spiritual objectives, they got caught in their physical and material needs. They started murmuring against God: “We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions and the garlic. But now our whole being is dried up. There is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes” (Num 11:5,6). God was angry towards this attitude of the people. He said, “The Lord will give you meat and you shall eat, not one day, nor ten days, nor twenty days, but for a whole month until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have
despised the Lord who is among you and have wept before Him, saying, Why did we ever come up out of Egypt?” (vv 18-20). Yes, the Lord gave them the desires of their heart, but He sent leanness in their souls (Psa 106:15). Beloved, what happened to them is all examples and they are written for our own admonition. All the Old Testament incidents teach us spiritual lessons (1 Cor 10:11).
I often wonder why today, by and large, most of the Christians are overoccupied in their prayers with physical, material and physiological blessings. The pivotal reason for this trend is because of the most popular message that is heralded from most of our Christian pulpits, known as the Health and Wealth Gospel or the Prosperity Gospel. This is not the Gospel that Jesus preached. Take for example Matthew 6:31-33, “Do not worry, saying, What shall we eat, what shall we drink or what shall we wear? For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” “Worry” means overoccupation, anxiety, or something that would be bothering us all the time. Who are the Gentiles? Those who have not believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and have not become the children of God. They are those who are not worshipping the Living God. According to Jesus, only these unbelievers would be primarily going after these earthly things.
As for as God’s people are concerned, they are to be seeking first His Kingdom and His righteousness, which mean spiritual things. The apostles very many times warned the believers of their time, about this very unhealthy practice. 1 Corinthians 15:19 , “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.” A poor man can go to Heaven. Why, a leper can go to Heaven. But a sinner, if he is not forgiven, cannot go to Heaven. As we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, the secondary and circumferential things, in course of time, as God provides, will be added to us.
You must have gone to several Gospel Crusades. And you will find the video cameras being turned towards people who are sobbing and crying. I am not criticising it, but have you tried to find out why most of these people shed tears? They hear words from the pulpit, “Your husband does not love you...Your
wife does not respect you... Your children do not obey you... nobody understands you. Fear not. Worry not. Jesus understands you!” Immediately tears roll down their cheeks. This is very natural and there is 12nothing spiritual about it. No gospel preaching is necessary for that. You go to anybody and symphathetically say, “Don’t worry, I understand what you are going through,” anybody will cry! But there is a correction in the Bible about this situation. We can turn to the Bible for everything. The Bible is not only supreme, it is also sufficient. 2 Corinthians 7:10, “Godly sorrow produces repentance to salvation but the sorrow of the world produces death.” There are two kinds of sorrow. One is sorrow over spiritual matters, which the Bible calls as “godly” sorrow. The other one concerns physical, material and financial problems, and the Bible calls it “worldly” sorrow. Worldly sorrow produces death. The end of it is no blessing. Initially there would be some excitement, but the end of it will be misery. But godly sorrow produces repentance, leading to salvation “not to be regretted.” The call to weep, throughoutthe Bible, has chiefly been over spiritual condition: “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep” (Js 4:8,9). We are to weep for our doublemindedness and cat-on-the-wall walk.
You also must be quite aware of the habit of people making vows in prayer. “O God, if you do this for me, I will do this for You.” Beware of making cheap vows unto God. Here is an example of a cheap vow: “Lord, if you give me a son, I will write a testimony for that magazine.” Such folks are a liability to the
Kingdom of God! Wastage of paper and ink! What happened to the standard of the Bible? There was a woman in the Old Testament. Her name was Hannah. She was childless and was reproached. She went into the presence of God and poured out her heart before Him in prayer. She made a vow: “O Lord of
hosts! If you give Your maid servant a male child, I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life” (1 Sam 1:11). You see, she didn’t even wait for him to graduate or take up a job. Even when he was still a “child,” she took him and left him in the Temple in the care of priest Eli. How difficult it would have been for her to do so! She and her husband would visit him only once a year (1 Sam 2:19). She would stitch for him a “little robe” every year. Imagine her feelings with the needle and thread in her hand! That was real sacrifice. That you can call as a vow. Not writing a few lines for a magazine! This is where I see Christianity terribly backslidden. What did Hannah tell Eli? “What God gave me, I give back unto Him” (1 Sam 1:27,28).
Another classic example of spiritual-mindedness while making vows in prayer is King David. He was going through series of troubles and sufferings. Read his vow in Psalm 132:1-5, “Lord, remember David and all his affliction; how he swore to the Lord, and vowed to the mighty God of Jacob: Surely I will not go into the chamber of my house, or go up to the comfort of my bed; I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the Mighty God of Jacob.” He vowed to sacrifice physical blessings— house...comfort... bed...sleep —for a spiritual cause.
Beloved, let’s follow such lofty examples, and not come down to strike cheap bargains with God!
on the Mount (Mt 6:9-13). The seven requests in this prayer are: Hallowed be Your Name; Your Kingdom come; Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven; Give us this day our daily bread; Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors; Lead us not into temptation; Deliver us from evil. If you carefully look at these seven requests, you will find only one of the seven refers to the material or physical or physiological need. The first three refer to the things of God: His Name, His Kingdom and His Will. And the last three refer to our “spiritual” needs: forgiveness of sins, victory over temptation and deliverance from evil.
Beloved, this should be the balance in our prayer. Yearn first for the things of God and then pray for your spiritual needs. These are the priorities. Only one out of the seven requests in the model Prayer is regarding our physical or material needs. This is where the people of Israel miserably failed. God
brought them out of Egypt. He had large spiritual objectives concerning them. He wanted them to become a worshipping community. He wanted to use them to destroy all that was evil and wicked. He desired that they would be the chosen people through whom the entire world would be blessed. When they completely
lost sight of these spiritual objectives, they got caught in their physical and material needs. They started murmuring against God: “We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions and the garlic. But now our whole being is dried up. There is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes” (Num 11:5,6). God was angry towards this attitude of the people. He said, “The Lord will give you meat and you shall eat, not one day, nor ten days, nor twenty days, but for a whole month until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have
despised the Lord who is among you and have wept before Him, saying, Why did we ever come up out of Egypt?” (vv 18-20). Yes, the Lord gave them the desires of their heart, but He sent leanness in their souls (Psa 106:15). Beloved, what happened to them is all examples and they are written for our own admonition. All the Old Testament incidents teach us spiritual lessons (1 Cor 10:11).
I often wonder why today, by and large, most of the Christians are overoccupied in their prayers with physical, material and physiological blessings. The pivotal reason for this trend is because of the most popular message that is heralded from most of our Christian pulpits, known as the Health and Wealth Gospel or the Prosperity Gospel. This is not the Gospel that Jesus preached. Take for example Matthew 6:31-33, “Do not worry, saying, What shall we eat, what shall we drink or what shall we wear? For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” “Worry” means overoccupation, anxiety, or something that would be bothering us all the time. Who are the Gentiles? Those who have not believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and have not become the children of God. They are those who are not worshipping the Living God. According to Jesus, only these unbelievers would be primarily going after these earthly things.
As for as God’s people are concerned, they are to be seeking first His Kingdom and His righteousness, which mean spiritual things. The apostles very many times warned the believers of their time, about this very unhealthy practice. 1 Corinthians 15:19 , “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.” A poor man can go to Heaven. Why, a leper can go to Heaven. But a sinner, if he is not forgiven, cannot go to Heaven. As we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, the secondary and circumferential things, in course of time, as God provides, will be added to us.
You must have gone to several Gospel Crusades. And you will find the video cameras being turned towards people who are sobbing and crying. I am not criticising it, but have you tried to find out why most of these people shed tears? They hear words from the pulpit, “Your husband does not love you...Your
wife does not respect you... Your children do not obey you... nobody understands you. Fear not. Worry not. Jesus understands you!” Immediately tears roll down their cheeks. This is very natural and there is 12nothing spiritual about it. No gospel preaching is necessary for that. You go to anybody and symphathetically say, “Don’t worry, I understand what you are going through,” anybody will cry! But there is a correction in the Bible about this situation. We can turn to the Bible for everything. The Bible is not only supreme, it is also sufficient. 2 Corinthians 7:10, “Godly sorrow produces repentance to salvation but the sorrow of the world produces death.” There are two kinds of sorrow. One is sorrow over spiritual matters, which the Bible calls as “godly” sorrow. The other one concerns physical, material and financial problems, and the Bible calls it “worldly” sorrow. Worldly sorrow produces death. The end of it is no blessing. Initially there would be some excitement, but the end of it will be misery. But godly sorrow produces repentance, leading to salvation “not to be regretted.” The call to weep, throughoutthe Bible, has chiefly been over spiritual condition: “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep” (Js 4:8,9). We are to weep for our doublemindedness and cat-on-the-wall walk.
You also must be quite aware of the habit of people making vows in prayer. “O God, if you do this for me, I will do this for You.” Beware of making cheap vows unto God. Here is an example of a cheap vow: “Lord, if you give me a son, I will write a testimony for that magazine.” Such folks are a liability to the
Kingdom of God! Wastage of paper and ink! What happened to the standard of the Bible? There was a woman in the Old Testament. Her name was Hannah. She was childless and was reproached. She went into the presence of God and poured out her heart before Him in prayer. She made a vow: “O Lord of
hosts! If you give Your maid servant a male child, I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life” (1 Sam 1:11). You see, she didn’t even wait for him to graduate or take up a job. Even when he was still a “child,” she took him and left him in the Temple in the care of priest Eli. How difficult it would have been for her to do so! She and her husband would visit him only once a year (1 Sam 2:19). She would stitch for him a “little robe” every year. Imagine her feelings with the needle and thread in her hand! That was real sacrifice. That you can call as a vow. Not writing a few lines for a magazine! This is where I see Christianity terribly backslidden. What did Hannah tell Eli? “What God gave me, I give back unto Him” (1 Sam 1:27,28).
Another classic example of spiritual-mindedness while making vows in prayer is King David. He was going through series of troubles and sufferings. Read his vow in Psalm 132:1-5, “Lord, remember David and all his affliction; how he swore to the Lord, and vowed to the mighty God of Jacob: Surely I will not go into the chamber of my house, or go up to the comfort of my bed; I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the Mighty God of Jacob.” He vowed to sacrifice physical blessings— house...comfort... bed...sleep —for a spiritual cause.
Beloved, let’s follow such lofty examples, and not come down to strike cheap bargains with God!
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