7 July, 2020
💞 Dear Royal Praying Priests, shalom!
💎 “‘Everything is permitted’—but not everything is helpful. ‘Everything is permitted’—but not everything builds up. Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbour.” (1Co 10:23-24)
💎 “Therefore, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense either to Jewish or Greek people or to God’s community—just as I also try to please everyone in everything, not seeking my own benefit but the benefit of many, so that they may be saved.” (1Co 10:31-33)
If taking a few minutes to assess the current state of your prayer life, what is your score using a 0-10 self-rating scale? (The worst=0, bad=3, not bad=5, good=6, very good=8, excellent=10.)
According to A Life of Prayer and Worship – 30-Day Prayer Booklet, the best prayer is to both honour God and benefit others. Here are five check points for our reflections.
1. Is our prayer honouring God? (1Co 10:31)
We ought to do everything heartily and freely to God’s glory, same with our prayers. Do our prayers bring glory to God or to ourselves? Do we come to Him with a shopping list or do we long for His presence being manifested and His name being glorified through our prayers?
2. Is our prayer building up others? (1Co 10:23)
We want to live well, but our foremost efforts should be to help others live well. With the rapid change and development in technology, a new modern generation is labelled as “iGeneration” with “i” representing iPhone, iPod, iTunes…etc. because every product can be individualised to suit “my” needs! If our prayer is not constructive and it is only about I, me and my, we fall short of the grace of God.
3. Is our prayer seeking our own good? (1Co 10:24)
No one would pray for bad things to happen and surely, we can pray for good and beneficial things. However, we need the gift of discerning spirits and the help of the Holy Spirit to discern if what we ask is truly good or only seeking our own good.
4. Is our prayer enslaving us? (1Co 6:12)
Be mindful of not asking something that may turn out to be temptations and eventually enslave and victimize ourselves. Our Father in heaven gives good things to those who ask Him (Mat 7:9-11), He knows what is the best gift and when is the best timing. Trust Father for the best and wait upon Him. Do not easily get satisfied with the second best which may become your heavy yoke later!
5. Is our prayer sinning against God? (1Co 6:9-11)
If our prayer does not please God, do not even ask for it from the very beginning! We shall always remember how our Lord Yeshua teaches us to pray, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” (Mat 6:13) It is an appropriate and necessary prayer to ask Father for keeping us away from any hidden faults or willful sins!
🙏Dear Heavenly Father, please teach us to pray according to Your Word and help us to realign our prayer focus with Your eternal purposes. No matter what we do, please teach us to know and to do Your will, so Your name is gloried, others are built up and we also receive our portion of blessings. In the name of Yeshua we pray and bless You, Amen.