february 19th, 2011

Who Do You Pray For?


When you pray do you pray who do you pray for first? Yourself? your family? the soldiers? 


That's a question that was asked today in Sunday School. Majority of all of us that pray to God all pray for ourselves first and then others. When some of us won't admit it that we pray for ourselves more than others. 


Is it wrong to pray for yourself? I don't believe that's so. It is wrong if you pray for the wrong reasons. Say if you had a test coming up and you studied really hard for it, and you asked God to help you remember what you studied; is that okay? Sure it is. If you didn't study for a test, and you asked God to help you out; that is wrong. You didn't do the work behind it to deserve to pass. 


Is it wrong for you to pray to help you succeed in your job? Is it wrong to want to succeed in anything? My answer to these two questions is if you are hurting people during that process then you are wrong. It's not wrong to want things for yourself. It all depends on what you do to get there. Do not step on people or hurt people just to get there for your own pleasure. 


"And they said to him, "We are able." And Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those whom it has been prepared." - Mark 10:39-40


James and John wanted to be superior and sit at the left and right hand of God. They didn't just want to be in heaven they wanted to be right by God's side. They prayed for themselves, they asked Jesus to give them what they wanted. 


You should not pray for just yourself, but you shall pray for the soldiers across the world, the people in poverty, the people in need of God's guidance. We should pray for God's grace to surround everyone across the world. Everyone needs God's grace and his guidance. 


"For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." - Mark 10:45

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.

Amen.