What is it lawful to pray for?

[Christoffer]

I have been reading Calvins exposition of the Lords prayer.

This made me think about where to draw the line regarding what we can and cannot pray for.

For example, is it lawful to pray that your company will be a financial success, or that you will perform well at work and be promoted? I am now thinking about praying with these particular things, financial success and promotion, as the highest good. Praying for them as ends and not as means to ends.

In the light of what Calvin says I feel that praying for these things in and of themselves is unlawful. However, if success at work is seen as a means only to enable you to glorify God or support your family, which then means the wife can stay at home with the kids and not have to send them to social services, which then means the family can instill godly values in the kids, then I feel that the prayers are lawful.

In short: am I right that whatever we pray for must have the glory of God as its highest good. We cannot pray for things that we want, for the sake of just wanting them.

Comments from the PB wisdom is appreciated!

 

[KMK]

It's not 'what' you pray, but 'how' you pray that is important. The Lord's Prayer is a model to teach us 'how' to pray. Once we get the 'how' correct, the 'what' will follow.

 

[Tim]

"Lord, help me to work hard and to be a good witness, for the glory of God, as a diligent worker. If I am promoted, may it be that I glorify you in my success, and that I use my higher position wisely and responsibly. I know that generally those who work hard will prosper, and that it would be a blessing from you. But if it is that I am not to enjoy earthly prosperity, may I grow in grace and patience through the hardship you ordain. But I ask for your mercy in this situation and that you would allow me to provide for my family, and that you would help me to be a good steward of finances."

 

[O'GodHowGreatThouArt]

Let not your heart's desires get in the way in your prayers except for your desire and longing to serve Him and glorify Him.

I've got many friends that do not know how to use prayer. Back in January, one of them was praying for snow to cancel school (reason: He didn't want to take a test).

He had to go take the test.

What some people in the Mainstream Christian community haven't figured out yet is that prayer is NOT a toy. I can't go up to God and ask him for anything and everything I want or "think" I need. Doing so is pretty much idolatry.

Matthew 6 gives us the Lord's Prayer, not as something to mimic, but as a sort of guideline to how to pray. One of the most important parts of the Lord's Prayer is found in verse 9, and it is the opinion of this writer that, if this verse did not exist, prayer would be meaningless (bolded and underlined part is the focal point).

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

If we only had one thing to choose that we could pray for, it should be for the Kingdom and His will (OK, that's two, but you hopefully see my point). You have to keep in mind that it is only through His Will that anything continues to exist, much less breathe Him and worship Him. It should be contained in any prayer that we offer to the Lord our God. Anything that steps outside this line (or the one stated above), is a misuse of prayer.

 

[OPC'n]

I think you're right, I also think we have to remember that God wants us to pray for "our daily needs" to remind ourselves of our daily dependence upon Him for our most basic needs. We get nothing in our lives outside of His will. Some ppl get much and some get very little. Both should behold the Giver as the prize and not the gift although our appreciation of the gift is required also. Even our wants should be brought before Him, laid at His feet, and then we accept His will in the matter. This teaches us to accept His will in matters whether they line up with ours or not. I think it all has to do with lessons taught and not the gift itself. If I pray for a new lens for my camera, I'm not asking God to take away from His supply house food He could have given to another. God has infinite resources. I pray for a new lens bc I would like to have one. Then I see what happens....I see His will unfold and am either grateful that He was generous to give me one or He was generous to withhold it from me for some reason. Not praying for everything that you need and want shows a degree of independence from God. That you know what's best and that you don't really need something that seems like a want. You "take away" as it were ( I know we don't take His will away from Him just using human wording) God's decision as to whether you get it or not by not asking Him for it and asking that His will be done. Takes away our opportunity to accept His will into our lives. If I get the lens then I accept His will of giving it to me and I use it to take pics which glorify Him. If I don't get the lens then I accept His will of withholding it from me and being a Father/husband who knows what is best for me. It makes it easy to know what to pray for....everything! Of course, asking that coveting stay far from our hearts over the matter is another prayer that goes along side of asking for gifts from our Father.

 

[O'GodHowGreatThouArt]

You raise a good point Sarah with laying everything at His feet.

One item that America needs to get a hard preaching on is differentiating between "wants" and "needs" from situation to situation in the eyes of the Lord. A study of the Lord's Prayer would do that very efficiently, because regardless of what you need or want, it all comes down to His will. Nothing can happen, (good, bad or indifferent) if He doesn't want it to happen. Nothing can exist unless He wants it to exist. Nothing can breathe Him or worship Him unless He wants it to breathe Him and worship Him, regardless of whether sin exists or not.

 

[Andres]

In short: am I right that whatever we pray for must have the glory of God as its highest good. We cannot pray for things that we want, for the sake of just wanting them.

The glory of God is of the highest importance. It should rule our lives, and in turn our prayers too. I believe that if you have God's glory as your motivation and guide, then your pray life will reflect this.

 

[JBaldwin]

To add this, I think that there is absolutely nothing wrong with telling God what we want (as Sarah mentioned). He is our loving Heavenly Father, and we need to tell Him everything that is on our hearts. So many times over the years, when I've wanted something very badly, I've told the Lord about it. I've also asked Him to change my "wanter" and give me a heart that desires what He wants.

It's amazing what happens when we lay our desires at His feet. He does change our "wanter", and He can transform our desires to be in line with His desires. Then there is great freedom in asking Him for whatever it is that is on our hearts.

 

[Jack K]

God as our Father means we share with him both our needs and our desires. As we mature, our desires will fall more his line with his. But in this life we will always have selfishness mixed in with our desires. We can either stop coming to God as a Father as we filter our prayers more carefully. Or we can keep treating him as a Father and pour out all our desires even though we know they're tainted, trusting him to answer wisely and to hear us without reproach.

I opt toward erring on the side of sharing all our desires. It's more honest with our Father. This doesn't mean we can't catch ourselves as we pray, realize when we're being selfish and refine our desires. But being up front with God comes first.

When I teach my class of kids, the rule for our prayer circle is that anything the kids are feeling, wanting or worried about is allowed to be prayed for. I'm clear with them that this doesn't necessarily make the feeling a good feeling, the want appropriate or the worry legitimate. But it's still a good habit to ask of our Father, and such prayers aren't criticized. These kids are nine- and ten-year-olds, and they've prayed for some highly questionable things over the years. But they're practicing real prayers from the heart, not filtered ones. And they're unlearning the idea that prayers are judged by how noble or insightful you sound, thereby becoming an exercise in oneupsmanship.