Sometimes – perhaps way too often – our prayers revolve all around “me!” I need this; I want that. Now many of these needs and wants are perfectly legit – sometimes, even Divinely-noble; but are they of the more eternal perspective? I suspect most of our prayers zero in on the more temporal concerns of life. Not that anything temporal is innately wrong, but is it Best, when it comes to prayer?
“Lord, I need more hours in the day to get everything done I need to get done.” “Lord, I want that job promotion – because I’m the most deserving.” “Lord, I need a new sump pump.” “Lord, I want that new I-Phone.” “Lord, I need that biopsy to come back clean.” “Lord, I want everybody to like me.”
No, these prayers aren’t inherently wrong – it’s just that they’re not the Best!
We derive this because when we peruse the Apostle Paul’s 12 letters, the guy who routinely solicited his fellow-believers’ prayers, we never read him asking for healing, despite his near-blindness. We never read him asking for a better work schedule, despite he held down two full-time jobs simultaneously. We never read him asking for others to pray that God remove his “thorn in the flesh,” despite how debilitating it seemed to be.
Instead, when we read all of Paul’s letters and note what did inspire him to pray, we grasp that his motivations stood out like Mt. Teide in Tenerife, whose peak can be seen from anywhere on the island. Paul’s reasons for prayer can’t be missed.
Why not come out this Sunday morning when we “dig even deeper” into God’s Word to discover why Paul prayed so fervently in the sermon I’ve entitled, “Paul’s Passionate Plan?”