By Faith Enterprises

Does Our Relationship to God Depend on Good Health, Prosperity, and Financial Security?

Tip! In (Phil. 4:6) we have these words about prayer: “Be careful for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.

"...Every one that asks receives..." -- Luke 11:10.

To understand fully the teachings of Jesus concerning the fundamental principles of effectual praying, a substantial amount of time is required. There are no shortcuts in this school of prayer. If God's people will take adequate time to meditate and ponder on these basics principles in the art of prevailing prayer, they will no doubt be rewarded richly for all the hours spent in the school of Christ.

Once we finally grasp the gracious truth contained in the words of Jesus, and take a firm hold on these promises relating to prayer, we will then understand the meaning of His words, "...Every one that asks receives". I confidently believe that our Master, Jesus Christ, declared the truth when He said, "...Every one that asks receives..." Yet we are challenged often with the surprising and disturbing reality that we do not always receive an exact answer to our prayers. We often find it extremely hard to settle these troubling facts with this clear account that Jesus said concerning the answer to our prayers.

Think about the happy relationship that exists between us, as an obedient child and our loving heavenly Father. Our prayers will be successful with Him if we pray as that of an obedient child.

When He sees us, His children, with a genuine reason and a stable determination, continually seeking attentively in everything we do and are living as His children should, He will answer are prayers.

Consider again our Master's teachings on prayer; we can never use them for our own selfish and wishful thinking, concerning the answer to our prayers. Could it be that we have set our hearts on getting something we greatly desire for our own personal gratification? Then when we say our intense dissatisfaction because the request was not granted to us as we thought it should have, we get angry at our Father.

To answer this difficult question about prayer we must go again to Luke 11:11-13 where we read Jesus' words about the son asking for bread. Can you see that the son cannot live without bread? He must have it or he will die of starvation. However, there are many things the son could have asked for that is not as important to life as food. He could ask his father for money, or fine clothing, or even toys. The father may think it wise to give his son these good gifts; but then again he may consider it best for his son's own good to refuse to give these things he requested. But can you not see that it is a different matter when a child asks for food? Of course we can, because food is needed for life where as the other things are not.

Tip! Talking to God – This is the one on one type prayer – where we converse with God to develop our relationship with him. We may ask him to help us in areas that we need spiritual, physical or emotional support.

Our heavenly Father may think it wise to give us many good gifts, such as good health, prosperity, and financial security. But what if He wills to withhold these things from us? Will we submit to His sovereign will without complaint? Perfect health, prosperity, and earthly goods are nice but they are not essential to life in this world. Does our relationship to God depend on these creature comforts? No! These things cannot teach to us the moral strength we need to deal with the trials that occur in life in this evil world we live in today. It requires the "Bread of life" to give us the spiritual strength to maintain us in these final days. Our Father will give us the Living Bread of His Word from heaven to keep us strong in faith, fearless in courage, and unshakable in hope if we only ask.

The grand high point of our Lord's talk on prayer was achieved when He announced that our Father's promise was to give the Holy Spirit to His praying children. He wants us to understand that every urgent request for the bread from heaven is answered by the Father's gift of the Spirit.

Tip! Praise and thanksgiving – This is the earnest, heartfelt prayer where we come before the Lord thanking and praising him for his mighty power and love. We may praise him in both our earthly and spiritual language.

Jesus is teaching us that the Spirit is given to us, the children of God for the only reason to sustain and satisfy us in life. Our never-ending demands for spiritual food is supplied by the indwelling Spirit. Our daily prayer must be, "Lord, evermore give us this bread." The answer from heaven is, "...Every one that asks receives..."

Matthew 6:33 says: But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

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