The prophets of prosperity proclaim that God wants us all to be healthy, wealthy, and wise when preaching “ask and ye shall receive.” By twisting Jesus’ words, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer," you too can create your very own “Santa-God.” It’s a very convenient religious framework where Santa-God simply checks to see if you’ve been naughty or nice before hitting the “yes” button on the cosmic computer of material blessing.
Detecting my sarcasm, you ask, “So, Pastor, if I shouldn’t be working on my Christmas wish list when it comes to prayer, what should a Christian really ask of God? I mean what can we really expect of the big guy in the sky with the long white beard?”
Would you like to peek at my Christmas prayer list? I found every single item on my list in “The Lord’s Prayer,” where Jesus told us what we need to ask of God, both in holiday-season and out of holiday-season.
Give us our daily bread.
With eyes of history we see how God has always provided “enough.” In their wilderness wandering the children of Israel were given manna to pick up and eat, but if they gathered more than they needed for that day it spoiled on them. How much, then, is “enough” for us? Jesus teaches us to pray for daily bread, thereby focusing our dependence on God for provisions rather than our own strength, as well as calling us to a lifestyle where simplicity frames our needs.
Forgive us – as we forgive
Jesus told a story about a certain businessman who was forgiven a great debt by his master but in turn refused to release those over whom he held debts. The master threw that certain businessman in jail because he’d failed to be generous in grace toward others. Me? I might be that certain businessman, because I’m all about the old eye for an eye trick – until it comes to my eye. My life sings “Oh, how I love judgment” instead of “Oh, how I love Jesus.” Jesus reminds us that our un-forgiveness of others is inextricably connected to our own spiritual well-being.
Deliver us from evil.
This is a prayer seeking deliverance from evil we do not see. James Mulholland writes that this line is “not a personal mantra for protection” in his book Praying Like Jesus, but that it is a prayer with social and global implications. When we pray for deliverance with awareness, we recognize our tendency to march lock step into sins and shortcomings easily hidden behind corporate profits and partisan politics.
This Sunday I’ll be wrapping up this short series on the Lord’s Prayer entitled When You Pray. We’ll take up the three appropriate petitions of God, having considered in previous weeks what it means to pray “Our Father” and “Thy Kingdom Come.” If you’ve missed any in this series, you can contact the church office for tapes at 713-723-2870. I hope to see you in worship at either 9:15 or 11:45!
Beseechingly,
Pastor Gary
Not a Sermon – Just a Thought is a weekly column by Gary Long, pastor of Willow Meadows Baptist Church in Houston, Texas. To subscribe or unsubscribe from this list, just contact me at glong@wmbc.org. You can read this and past issues over at the website for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, http://www.thefellowship.info/News/notasermon.icm. You can also check out my other writings at www.tothelees.blogspot.com.
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