Recently I heard of an instance where people
were upset that a small businessman prayed for better business. I found myself
contemplating this and why I see nothing wrong with this man praying for
business and here was what I concluded: There is nothing wrong with praying for
better business.
Maybe after reading the first part you are
saying that I am wrong and I know nothing of the Bible nor the word of god.
Maybe you think praying for things for one’s self shows greed. Maybe it is
because Christ says that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a
needle than to enter the gates of heaven. I agree with this saying, I have to
it is the word of Christ, but I do not think it applies in this situation.
Well, I do not think it applies here. I am sure the person I am referring to is
a good Christian and uses what he earns and his time to help others and bring
people to Christ. I believe that if through his actions, that if he helps bring
one lost soul to Jesus then that one act is worth more than all the gold on
earth and it will be celebrated in Heaven with more fanfare than one can possibly
imagine.
I will let the paragraph above stand for my
argument about the person getting into heaven but in the end that is for the
Lord, our judge, to decide. Now I want to address the prayer itself. Can we
pray for anything and everything? Yes, We can. Jesus says that we can ask the Father
in his name. There, that is that. I am not saying we will get everything we ask
for and I believe Christ did not mean it that way. Think of it like this: As a
child many of us pestered our parents for things that now seem silly and in
reality were nothing more than future garage sale fodder. I know as a child I
was told “no” when I asked and was never punished for asking, at least not the
first time. I also know I have told my children “no” on occasions and never
punished them for asking. As the saying goes, “No harm in asking.” So you can
ask for anything, you just have to understand it is the Father’s prerogative to
say “No” like any good parent if he knows it is not for good for you.
Now for a business owner to pray for
prosperity? I can hear it now “It is not right they are being selfish and self-serving.”
Is it? No, and here are some examples why it is not.
Let us say that our Business owner is a farmer.
The crop he grow is not important in the example (exemption in Washington and
Colorado) what is important are the owner’s employees, customers, and his
family, not to mention others on down the money flow. If this man has a bad
crop yield he may have to let go his farm hands who will lose money to support
their own families. The farmer himself loses income and, maybe, could lose the
farm, as we have seen so many times in the past. Now let us say this farmer
prays for a good crop; is this a self-serving prayer? Come on, he is praying
for a good crop to sell and that will be turned into money, is it greedy? No,
many people benefit from this not just the farmer. And I will bet you the
farmer will show his appreciation to the Lord.
I have seen this type of thing in the past. I
currently live in Bremerton, Washington but I am originally from a small
fishing town on the Gulf Coast of Florida called Carrabelle. (When I say small
I mean small; Carrabelle has the World’s smallest police Station, a phone
booth.) Now back on topic. As I said before Carrabelle is a fishing town with
many shrimp boats and down the road, in East Point, many of the residents are
oyster fisherman. One thing about Shrimp and Oysters is that hurricanes are not
good for them and large storms can disrupt fishing grounds for years. That
happened when I was a senior in High school back in 1985-86. We had 2 Hurricane’s
come through in a span of two months. It did a number on the oyster beds and
shrimp breeding grounds. To this day I do not think the area has rebounded and
the storms that have hit since have not helped. I can tell you that people
prayed that the storms went somewhere else. Were they selfish for wanting a destructive
hurricane to go somewhere else and praying for that outcome? No, they were
thinking of their livelihood and those of their friends and family.
Now we can look at other examples and examine
them, but does it matter? Not really, I will still defend the person I am
writing about. Now who is it I am writing about? Well first let me say I am not
associated with this person or the show he is on other than being a fan. Now
for the reveal. I am writing about Todd Hoffman and Gold Rush. On a recent
episode Todd, his dad Jack, his business partner Dave Turin, and the rest of
the Hoffman crew prayed to find more Gold after a not so good clean-up. Before
you stay that is selfish look at who I said prayed. It was not just Todd, it
was the whole crew. These men were praying to do better in their profession in
hopes of providing for their family. Yes they are gold miners, but they are a
business just like the farmer and fishermen above. And like other businesses
they have expenses so if they fail to meet their goal it is not just they who
suffer. Something else, gold is used for more than jewelry and investment, it
is a vital material for the electronics industry and without it you would not
be reading this on your Cell, tablet, PC or whatever you are using.
So in closing I said he had the right to pray
to find gold and he also exercised his faith in doing so. He sent a message
that Christ is for us and will be there for us no matter if it is Mining gold
or helping someone from the gutter. I pray the Hoffmans have continued success
and that from their demonstration of faith and spreading of God’s word others
may be saved.
Why I did not cite Bible verses?
I think if you can get the message of Christ
through example or explain the gist then you have a firm grip on the Word. I
also believe that if I get one person to find the verses in the Bible that
represent what I have written then I am closer to getting someone into the
Bible and understanding the Lord’s word. How many of us had Bible drill in the
past where they called out the verse and you had to find it? Now find the
meaning.
