Praying for Money (Article 3 of 6)
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- Created: Thursday, 01 December 2005 18:42
- Written by Tom Lipp
When does God get most prayers coming his way? That’s easy – the day before the lottery. Now I suppose that some prayer is better than no prayer, but we need to remember that the Lord told us how to pray long before lotteries came along. As a matter of fact, our Heavenly Father is rich enough to give everyone reading this article much more than the recent 649 $54million lottery and still have ten times as much for those who don’t read this article.
I believe God dislikes lotteries not because they give Him competition, but because they distract us from making wise financial decisions. This is the third in a series of articles contrasting biblical economics with human-centric secular economics.
Prayer has been marginalized as a childish activity rather like sending a letter to Santa Claus. Last month we looked at the importance of living in an open system where we include God Almighty in our financial planning. How do we do that? It starts with prayer. Where will you find prayer as a recommended financial strategy? Not in the business section of the newspaper, that’s for sure.
Prayer has been marginalized as a childish activity rather like sending a letter to Santa Claus. Sadly public prayer is almost unknown in Canada – especially prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Fifty years ago in public and private schools, the Lord’s Prayer was recited daily in schools across the nation. Remember the Lord’s Prayer, really the disciple’s prayer, has an important financial aspect in it…”give us this day our daily bread.” Nowadays, Canadian culture has adopted a philosophy of pluralism; it is politically incorrect to pray.
Maybe it is because we don’t know which God we’d pray to. It seems to me, that the true God is the one who has the power over death itself. Every other so-called “god” is just a decoy. Have you noticed that Jesus tells us to ask God for our needs? Imagine! The Intelligent Designer of our universe tells us to ask him for our needs and wants. If we are too proud or self-sufficient to ask then we are in trouble.
So what are some tips to praying to the God of the Bible?
1. Do it. Ask. Many are reluctant to ask for needs and wants, thinking that God is uninterested, unwilling or unable to help them. This is a big mistake. Pray about everything. If it’s big enough to think about, it’s big enough to pray about. Let me say it again. If it’s big enough to think about it, it’s big enough to pray about!
2. Follow proper procedures. A Holy God is not like a slot machine or like a genie out of a bottle. The biggest problem God has with answering all our prayers is a small word with great significance- sin. This is rather like AIDS, only worse. AIDS has temporary consequences but sin’s consequences are everlasting. Our sins (self-centered anti-God desires) pollute our prayers. God’s law reveals our folly. When we admit He is right and we are wrong a restoration process begins.
The next step is to ask Jesus Christ to save us from the penalty, power and presence of sin. Study the Bible to find out how God wants us to pray.
3. Pray for wisdom before praying for wealth. Wealth without wisdom produces waste. It is like giving a four-year-old $50 dollars to buy something at the local convenience store. Imagine the candies, trinkets and expectation of future cash gifts that would result. Solomon asked for wisdom and not for wealth, health or influence. God commands us to seek wisdom ahead of wealth. (Proverbs 8:11)
The ability to master our money is more valuable than the money itself. Many people are financially rich, but that is all the wealth they have. It is like someone on death row being granted a sumptuous last meal before execution. They are not to be envied or copied.
Next month we’ll continue to look at lotteries. In the mean time start praying. You may end up with something much better than a lottery win. Now try to imagine that!
