Matt 5:9 You then pray in this way: Our Father who is in the heavens, Your name be sanctified; 10 Your kingdom come; Your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth. 13 ...For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
[Part 2 of 2] I know that when some brothers and sisters pray for necessities, usually they are not so brave and strong. Instead, the moment they kneel down they would shed tears and pray, O God, have pity on me. I have nothing to eat, I have nothing to wear, I have no place to live; I beg You, have pity on me. This kind of prayer is pitiful because it is altogether for yourself. Therefore, in asking God for material things, we may have two vastly different motives, for Gods sake or for ourselves. What if your child should get sick today and you go to pray for him. In your prayer could you say to God, O God, my child is sick, please heal him; yet my prayer is not for my own sake, but for Your sake? Or would you pray feeling your child is so lovely that you wonder what you would do if he were to die; and therefore, shed tears, earnestly and mournfully begging God to heal him. If so, I can boldly say that although your prayer is fervent, it is not in God but altogether in yourself. Your earnest imploring does not pass through God nor does it allow God to pass through you; moreover, it is not God and you, you and God, praying together. Instead, it is purely you yourself praying before God. But there are some who have learned the lesson and have received guidance so that when they pray for the healing of their child, they can also say before God, O God, this is not for my sake but for Your sake; this is not my business but Your business. Not only when this one child is ill, but even if all my children were sick and all would die, it is Your business, not mine. Brothers, if we would learn such a lesson, we would no longer need to implore God or beg for His pity; instead, we would be able to pray bravely and strongly, for we would be praying not for ourselves but for Gods sake. I very much like this word which Daniel uttered: O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake (Dan. 9:19). Without a doubt, Daniel was one who passed through God and allowed God to pass through him. He was also one who prayed with God and allowed God to pray with him. Hence, he could pray, O Lord, hear for thine own sake. This is a very basic principle.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Lessons on Prayer by Witness Lee, pp. 27-28. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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