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Writer's pictureJake Provance

Just for You

God wants to help you in every area of your life. It isn't that He is only interested in helping you when it is helping Him. Many of the Christian faith have come to the conclusion that God only blesses when it suits Himself to do so. He only brings money into our hands because he expects that money to be used to further His Kingdom. The issue with this philosophy, as holy as it may sound, is that it misses the rest of the story in the Bible. Did God send Christ so that God Himself could benefit? Of course not! It was pure love that caused Christ to come to the Earth, not a mercenary act. God does want us to use our resources, health, and influence to further the Gospel; He wants us to want to do it too, but the blessing of the Lord does not have strings attached. God gives freely, and out of that free gift, we then give freely because we want to do as our Father has done. This is the true form of the Gospel.


God can send you some money for no other reason but to bring you joy. Somewhere along the way, we have bought into the lie that we have to negotiate with God, saying things like, "Lord, if you'll send me money, you know I'll tithe off of it. Lord, if you heal my body, then I'll serve at the shelter. Lord, if you fix my marriage, then I'll go to church. Lord, if you help my kid, then..." The list could go on and on, and that very prayer has a different implication than we dare to admit. The implication is, "You don't love me enough, are not big enough, or good enough, to help me with this situation unless you get something in return."


Could you imagine actually saying that to our Father who didn't even spare His own Son for our sake?


"He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" - Romans 8:32 NKJV


My challenge to you is to eliminate these types of "mercenary" prayers and thoughts from your life. God may have mercy on young Christians who have prayed a prayer like this, who haven't read their Bible and haven't had a chance to know the Lord yet. But as for those of us who have come to know and love God personally, then this kind of implication has no place in our life. The truth is you can ask God for help for no other reason than your own enjoyment.


"Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full." - John 16:24 NKJV


If you're a parent, or if not, put yourself in their shoes for a moment. When you give something to your kid, do you do so because you expect them to give you something in return? When you nurse that baby and provide and shelter them, do you do so because you expect them one day to do good things to and for you? Or do you do these things because you love them? We've made it too complicated, and we've made our faith a mercenary arrangement instead of an unwavering trust working by love, aimed at the heart of God.


"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!" - Matthew 7:7-11 NKJV


Start looking at God as your loving Father instead of just an employer. Start looking at your covenant with Him as a marriage instead of a contractual arrangement for mutual benefit. God doesn't need us, but we need Him. So every act that He has ever done for us, or asked us to do, has always and will always be motivated by love. He made us because He wanted to; He wanted kids and has moved heaven and earth for us. Walk with Him daily, talk to Him daily, ask Him for help, for things that you would like just because you would enjoy them. Believe that He will, and you'll begin to see the Lord in a way that you haven't before.

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