Ask Only For What You Actually Need

by Joel Hendon⁽¹⁷¹⁾ Red Star

http://hebronics.org/index.html

"And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place: and when thou hearest, forgive." (2 Kings 8:30)

It is easy to understand why Solomon was in such good standing with God in his early life. He was humble, loved God's people and wanted desperately to rule them well and in the paths of righteousness. And as the prayer above shows, he wanted himself and his people to always ask forgiveness when they erred from the strait way. Instead of asking God to let us win the lottery, we ought always to plead for forgiveness of our shortcomings and weaknesses. Instead of complaining and asking for more than we have, we ought to earnestly thank Him for the bountiful blessings that we do have and give as much of it as we can to those who have less.

Our prayers ought to reflect our thanks more than anything else, and our supplications ought to be more for forgiveness, humble and forgiving hearts, ability to stay on the strait and narrow path of righteousness and opportunities to teach others the commandments of Jesus Christ.

Many people read the Bible and get the wrong impression of what God promises His Children. We all know that Matthew 6: 33 says, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." and the televangelists will jump to the occasion and explain to you that it means great wealth. but we would do well to read the whole chapter and see how many new cars and riches he had promised them. He was talking about not worrying about what you will eat and what you will drink and what you will have to wear. Nowhere does it mention ribeye steaks and gourmet coffee, suits from Joseph A. Banks, etc.

If we ever convince ourselves that God will favor us with extreme wealth and perfect health if only we will devote ourselves to Him and put seeking the kingdom first in our priorities, we will be in for a sad awakening. If any man is able to put the kingdom more ahead of all else than did Paul, I'd like to meet him. And Paul, like Jesus, had no place to call home that I know of and had to depend upon others for shelter and bare necessities. The poor old fellow could not even get his "thorn in the flesh" removed. In fact, Jesus himself warns us that it is near impossible for a wealthy man to enter the kingdom of God. (Matthew 19:24 and Mark 10: 25).

To "seek ye first the kingdom of God", means that you are convinced that such will reward you greatly...in heaven with God, forever in peace and rest and comfort. As long as we have adequate food to meet the body's nutritional requirements and clothing suficient to cover our nakedness, let us learn there with to be content. (1 Timothy 6:8) And let our requests to Him be for ability, resources and wisdom to be able to proclaim His word to the world in meaningful and fruitful ways. And always ask that His will be done. That request will always be answered.

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Article submitted Monday, April 20, 2009 & read 32 times.

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