What to pray for?
If you were to ask me what is something that is important to Christians, I would say prayer. In fact, prayer is important to all religious groups!
I suspect that most have prayed at least once in their life, even if they have no faith whatsoever. From what I can see, the idea of calling out or communicating to a ‘god’ or ‘higher power’ seems to be in the human DNA.
But there is this age-old question of what should we pray for? Do we view God as some kind of ‘Genie’ who simply grants us whatever we wish or demand?
I know that’s not the case, but last Sunday when listening to Gill Mahers (our church Prayer Co-ordinator) speak on prayer I heard something that was a ‘bulb-lighting’ moment. Gill was addressing this issue and quoted the words of Jesus...
“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
Jesus did not just say, ‘ask for whatever you like and it will be done’. That would be like some ‘Genie’ or ‘Fairy Godmother’!
The sentence begins, ‘If you remain in me and my words remain in you...’ In other words, Jesus was making two points:
Firstly, we need to be connected to Jesus, allowing his ways to rub off on us. We can discover how he did life, when here on earth, by looking in the Bible.
Secondly, is for us to follow his teachings. Jesus said that he came to fulfil the Jewish Law and taught the way of love, self-sacrifice and service. He was never about his own comfort or self-promotion.
Before we pray for something, we need to ask ourselves, is it in-line with the kind of things Jesus did and said when he was on the earth? If it is, then pray away! If not, then think again!
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Stay safe & God bless
Gary Bastin - Hope Community Church leader