Avoiding gimme fever

All last week the national radio station advertised the topic of this weekend's religion report - the value, or otherwise, of prayer for victory by athletes in Beijing. I missed the program as we had visitors staying with us, but hearing the promotional set me thinking. Many have wondered out loud about the process God might go through in figuring out how to answer requests from two opposing individuals or teams for victory, just as, during World War II, skeptics taunted Christians with the question of whose prayers God would listen to for victory.

Yes indeed, prayer has some puzzling sides to it; even its very purpose is not clearly spelled out in Scripture. But surely we can find some general principles to craft our prayers by. Would God honor the request to award a particular person a gold medal or a particular nation ultimate Olympics victory? Would not such a request be tantamount to asking Him to take sides in egotistical rivalry? It seems unlikely He cares twopence about the outcome. We have not a single case in all the Bible of God's showing the slightest interest in competitive activities; indeed, He seems to take a dim view of man's obsession with beating the other guy (Eccl. 4:4). But does God close His ears to High School football teams when they go into a pre-game prayer huddle? What if those who pray actually ask for God's help to play in a godly manner and bring glory to Him? We may not be able to see how any football game could possibly reflect the glory of God, but who can say for sure? Scripture simply doesn't give specific guidelines as to how "trivial" we may or may not be in our requests. It does tell us to make our requests known:

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication , with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God (Phil. 4:6).

James told those who would listen that they, "have not because they ask not" (4:2). Without knowing of any compelling exegetical reason to put restrictions on the nature of such requests, I'm sure not willing to risk divine wrath by telling anybody they can't pray about any matter - romance, bills, a job, upcoming exams, embarrassing pimples, fear of spiders, finding a lost wallet or ring. Barren Hannah was blessed with a child when she fervently besought God's mercy (1 Sam. 1). We are permitted to call upon God in times of ill health (James 5:14); who is willing to pontificate that we must do so only when at death's door? Would it be wrong to ask for God to put scarlet ribbons on a child's pillow? God is big enough to decide for Himself how to handle what may appear to someone else to be an inconsequential request. However, I think one can be

confident of not overstepping the mark by suggesting to fellow believers that they seek to think big in prayer, making sure that they don't succumb to gimme fever. Look at Hannah's post-parturition prayer (1 Sam. 2). Study the numerous examples of prayer in Scripture and you cannot help but be impressed by the selflessness of so many of them. Many of the Psalms involve asking for God's intervention for, and mercy upon, Israel as a whole. For example, Psalm 28:9:

Save Your people, and bless Your inheritance; shepherd them also, and bear them up forever.

Jesus also instructed us to pray for others - give us our daily bread, forgive us our trespasses, and so on. Note the plural pronoun.

Above all, a study of prayer shows that we should devote a considerable portion of it to singing God's praises and rehearsing His goodness and greatness. Jesus' model prayer begins, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name" and concludes, "For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever". At the dedication of the temple, Solomon prayed these words:

Moreover, concerning a foreigner, who is not of Your people Israel, but has come from a far country for Your name's sake (for they will hear of Your great name and Your strong hand and Your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this temple, hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, that all peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel. (1 Kings 8:41-43).

Our focus in prayer should be set on a specific outcome - the display of God's glory, that all men and women will know His name and fear Him. Solomon equates answered prayer of individuals with this ultimate noble cause. Jesus told us to request that God's will be done. Want to know God's will?

Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples! Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; talk of all His wondrous works (Ps. 105:1-2).

God wishes above all that more people would hear and learn of His glory and goodness. May we never cease to pray that knowledge of God's glory and power will reach into more and more corners of the earth in anticipation of Jesus' millennial reign when, "the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Hab. 2:14).