Prayer – Gain or Loss?

Shalom

Happy Sabbath

Why do you think we should pray?

In our prayers, do we always ask that our desires be fulfilled and hope that God will immediately answer those desires?

Are we praying with the intention of getting something? Or gaining profit?

Let’s read a story …

Someone asked, “What benefit will you get by praying to God regularly?”

The man replied, “Nothing .. but I will tell you what I lost, anger, ego, greed, depression, insecurity and many more.”

Maybe I didn’t get a fancy car or a lot of money, but I lost my selfishness.

I may not find comfort in my surroundings, but I lost my irritability.

I may not have had many delicious foods, but I have lost my greediness.

Maybe I didn’t get perfect grades in school, but I lost my cheating attitude.

Maybe I didn’t get the life of my enemy, but I lost my envy and hatred.

Maybe I didn’t get the job I wanted, but I lost my jealousy.

And do you know? Sometimes, our answer is not to gain something or gain profit, but instead to lose something, namely losing our bad attitudes and even our favorite sins.

And in the end we will realize that losing something is an advantage that we can get from praying.

When that selfishness, jealousy, envy, anger, and so on are gone, then that is the advantage that is gained from prayer.

Therefore, in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 it says, “Pray without ceasing.”

A verse that is short but has a deep meaning to remind us that we should always pray to God. It’s not just asking God to get something, but building a relationship with Him so that every day our character can be eroded and shaped as the character of Jesus Our Lord.

Isn’t this greater than to only get things we desired of?

So, prayer is not always about getting something, but also about losing something.

May the devotional on this sabbath day be a blessing for all of us and a reminder to always love to pray and have a good relationship with God, so that our character be more like Jesus day by day.

Happy Sabbath and Jesus bless us. AMEN.