The Best of the Portals of Prayer

Read: 2nd Corinthians 9:6-15 / Psalm 35

“Because you have asked … for yourself understanding to discern what is right … I now do according to your word.”
1st Kings 3:11-12

Know What You Want When You Pray

The poet Goethe wrote, “it is important to know as much as possible about what you want most of all, because sooner or later you so likely to obtain it.” “You do not know what you are asking” [Matthew 20:22], Jesus told James and John when through their mother they had asked for the privilege of sitting to His right and left in His kingdom. What people seek – and obtain – is not always good. Judas Iscariot wanted money, and he got it, but what a burden it turned out to be. The rich man in Jesus’ parable wanted and received a sumptuous lifestyle, but it led to spiritual bankruptcy. On the other hand, young Solomon knew what he wanted and needed: he prayed for it, and God gave it to him; a discerning heart. If what we pray for is food for us, and in His will, God is “able to do far more abundantly that all that we ask or think” [Ephesians 3:20]. Beyond anything we can desire or imagine – but need so desperately – is our salvation in Jesus Christ, who at the sacrifice of His own life gave us life in Him, including eternal life. For this we should pray most of all.
Lord, help me to search my heart and mind, that I may know and ask of You what is truly needful for me. Amen.

March 03, 1984