{"id":951,"date":"2010-01-10T21:14:01","date_gmt":"2010-01-10T21:14:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/2010\/01\/new-years-resolve-jesus-and-money-part-four.html"},"modified":"2010-01-10T21:14:01","modified_gmt":"2010-01-10T21:14:01","slug":"new-years-resolve-jesus-and-money-part-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/01\/new-years-resolve-jesus-and-money-part-four.html","title":{"rendered":"New Year’s Resolve: Jesus and Money Part Four"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Thumbnail<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/isbn=1587432749\/bakerbookhouseA<\/a><\/span><\/font>
http:\/\/www.brazospress.com\/Book.asp?isbn=978-1-58743-274-3<\/a><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Myth Three:  <\/span>If we are
\njust sincere enough in our asking, or simply pray long and fervently enough,
\nGod is bound to give us what we ask for. 
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This whole approach to prayer seems to see prayer as a way
\nof twisting the arm of a God who is reluctant to help.   <\/span>This is false on both sides of the
\nequation.  <\/span>First of all, God is not a reluctant giver. Secondly, we can’t make
\nGod an offer he can’t refuse, no matter how nicely or insistently we ask.  <\/span>Why not? Because all too often what we most
\nask for is not at all what we need or
\nwhat will benefit our Christian growth.  <\/i>
<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span>God only is obligated to do what he has
\nalready promised to do, and even then it will depend on whether the thing in
\nquestion was part of a conditional promise or not.    <\/span>When God begins a promise as follows “if my
\npeople who are called by my name will repent and turn to me, then….” or in a
\nsimilar manner,  <\/span>it needs to be seen that
\nif we don’t fulfill our half of the conditional statement God is under no
\nobligation to fulfill his half!   And under no circumstances can we twist God’s arm and force him to do something that is not in accord with his will in general or his will more specifically for you or me. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Think about it for a minute. Why would God answer yes to a prayer which, if fulfilled as requested, might well ruin the character or at least spoil rotten the person in question?   God is not a cosmic bellhop whose mission in life is to fulfill our every wish, wants or desires.   And perhaps something else should be said about God’s answering prayer—<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

No, is an answer to prayer, as is ‘yes, but not now’, as is ‘yes, but not with this person’ as is ‘ask me later’.  We should never assume that when God answers a prayer with a firm ‘no’ he is silent! No, is just as much a response to prayer as yes.  It’s just not the response we might be best pleased with.   When your theology of possessions is out of whack, and you have bought the lie of the health and wealth Gospel, this in turn leads to a theology of prayer which is also distorted.  Its time for us all to remember that ‘our best life now’ may have nothing to do with material prosperity or even good health. The best life we could have now is living a Christ-like life of self-sacrifice for others whether we are well or ill, rich or not so rich.  God’s definition of our ‘best life’ not ours must prevail, and this differs for each person.  <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/isbn=1587432749\/bakerbookhouseA http:\/\/www.brazospress.com\/Book.asp?isbn=978-1-58743-274-3 Myth Three:  If we are just sincere enough in our asking, or simply pray long and fervently enough, God is bound to give us what we ask for.    This whole approach to prayer seems to see prayer as a way of twisting the arm of a God who is reluctant to help.  …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":199,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nNew Year's Resolve: Jesus and Money Part Four - The Bible and Culture<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/01\/new-years-resolve-jesus-and-money-part-four.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Year's Resolve: Jesus and Money Part Four - The Bible and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/isbn=1587432749\/bakerbookhouseA http:\/\/www.brazospress.com\/Book.asp?isbn=978-1-58743-274-3 Myth Three:  If we are just sincere enough in our asking, or simply pray long and fervently enough, God is bound to give us what we ask for.    This whole approach to prayer seems to see prayer as a way of twisting the arm of a God who is reluctant to help.  …\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/01\/new-years-resolve-jesus-and-money-part-four.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bible and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-01-10T21:14:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2009\/12\/Jesusmoney-thumb-400x400-10353-thumb-400x400-10354-thumb-400x400-10359-thumb-400x400-10360.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ben Witherington\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New Year's Resolve: Jesus and Money Part Four - The Bible and Culture","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/01\/new-years-resolve-jesus-and-money-part-four.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New Year's Resolve: Jesus and Money Part Four - The Bible and Culture","og_description":"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/isbn=1587432749\/bakerbookhouseA http:\/\/www.brazospress.com\/Book.asp?isbn=978-1-58743-274-3 Myth Three:  If we are just sincere enough in our asking, or simply pray long and fervently enough, God is bound to give us what we ask for.    This whole approach to prayer seems to see prayer as a way of twisting the arm of a God who is reluctant to help.  …","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/01\/new-years-resolve-jesus-and-money-part-four.html","og_site_name":"The Bible and Culture","article_published_time":"2010-01-10T21:14:01+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2009\/12\/Jesusmoney-thumb-400x400-10353-thumb-400x400-10354-thumb-400x400-10359-thumb-400x400-10360.jpg"}],"author":"Ben Witherington","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/01\/new-years-resolve-jesus-and-money-part-four.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/01\/new-years-resolve-jesus-and-money-part-four.html","name":"New Year's Resolve: Jesus and Money Part Four - The Bible and Culture","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/01\/new-years-resolve-jesus-and-money-part-four.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/01\/new-years-resolve-jesus-and-money-part-four.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2009\/12\/Jesusmoney-thumb-400x400-10353-thumb-400x400-10354-thumb-400x400-10359-thumb-400x400-10360.jpg","datePublished":"2010-01-10T21:14:01+00:00","dateModified":"2010-01-10T21:14:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/d1fd6c7893819eabc624db38ecfd8426"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/01\/new-years-resolve-jesus-and-money-part-four.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/01\/new-years-resolve-jesus-and-money-part-four.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/01\/new-years-resolve-jesus-and-money-part-four.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2009\/12\/Jesusmoney-thumb-400x400-10353-thumb-400x400-10354-thumb-400x400-10359-thumb-400x400-10360.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2009\/12\/Jesusmoney-thumb-400x400-10353-thumb-400x400-10354-thumb-400x400-10359-thumb-400x400-10360.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/01\/new-years-resolve-jesus-and-money-part-four.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New Year’s Resolve: Jesus and Money Part Four"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/","name":"The Bible and Culture","description":"All Things Biblical and Christian","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/d1fd6c7893819eabc624db38ecfd8426","name":"Ben Witherington","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/75e\/75ec11e1916a2008bc4cc638a0a0de2fx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/75e\/75ec11e1916a2008bc4cc638a0a0de2fx96.jpg","caption":"Ben Witherington"},"description":"Bible scholar Ben Witherington is Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary and on the doctoral faculty at St. Andrews University in Scotland. A graduate of UNC, Chapel Hill, he went on to receive the M.Div. degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from the University of Durham in England. He is now considered one of the top evangelical scholars in the world, and is an elected member of the prestigious SNTS, a society dedicated to New Testament studies. Witherington has also taught at Ashland Theological Seminary, Vanderbilt University, Duke Divinity School and Gordon-Conwell. A popular lecturer, Witherington has presented seminars for churches, colleges and biblical meetings not only in the United States but also in England, Estonia, Russia, Europe, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Australia. He has also led tours to Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, and Egypt. Witherington has written over thirty books, including The Jesus Quest and The Paul Quest, both of which were selected as top biblical studies works by Christianity Today. He also writes for many church and scholarly publications, and is a frequent contributor to the Beliefnet website. Along with many interviews on radio networks across the country, Witherington has been seen on the History Channel, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, The Discovery Channel, A&E, and the PAX Network.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/author\/bwitherington"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/199"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}