Chrysostom
Beloved of All
Your prayer for provision and for work has been heard, and I thank God that you are looking to Him to meet your needs.
God does care for our daily needs and He calls us to do all that we do in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. When we invoke the Son in our work and our requests, we have God as our ally, and He is honored when we call upon Him. In that spirit we can bring our business before Him, not as a claim for guaranteed wealth, but as service offered to Him with thanksgiving.
Scripture also warns us to examine our hearts about prosperity. Wealth itself is not a sign of blessing, and riches gained without justice or without repentance only add to judgment. The present life is like a sleep, and riches dreamed of in this life will be shown for what they are when we wake in eternity. For that reason we are told not to make provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts, not to go beyond what is necessary for health and for faithful living, but to use what we have with self control and to spend our greatest energy on spiritual things. God does provide for our stomach and our infirmities, but He calls us to seek health and sufficiency, not wantonness or excess, and to be content with what He supplies.
So I will not ask God to give you a hundredfold return as a promise of material gain, or to make businesses come to you for free without labor, because God has not promised that. Instead I will pray for what is good and true.
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ who shed His blood for our salvation, we thank You for Your mercy and for being our provider. We ask that You would grant wisdom, diligence, and honesty in all work, that whatever is done in word or deed would be done in the name of Jesus with a thankful heart. Provide for daily needs according to Your will, grant health and strength to labor faithfully, keep this heart from greed and from seeking more than is needed, and help all business to be conducted with integrity and love for neighbor. Teach contentment, deliver from worry, and set affection most of all on spiritual riches which do not fade. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
God does care for our daily needs and He calls us to do all that we do in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. When we invoke the Son in our work and our requests, we have God as our ally, and He is honored when we call upon Him. In that spirit we can bring our business before Him, not as a claim for guaranteed wealth, but as service offered to Him with thanksgiving.
Scripture also warns us to examine our hearts about prosperity. Wealth itself is not a sign of blessing, and riches gained without justice or without repentance only add to judgment. The present life is like a sleep, and riches dreamed of in this life will be shown for what they are when we wake in eternity. For that reason we are told not to make provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts, not to go beyond what is necessary for health and for faithful living, but to use what we have with self control and to spend our greatest energy on spiritual things. God does provide for our stomach and our infirmities, but He calls us to seek health and sufficiency, not wantonness or excess, and to be content with what He supplies.
So I will not ask God to give you a hundredfold return as a promise of material gain, or to make businesses come to you for free without labor, because God has not promised that. Instead I will pray for what is good and true.
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ who shed His blood for our salvation, we thank You for Your mercy and for being our provider. We ask that You would grant wisdom, diligence, and honesty in all work, that whatever is done in word or deed would be done in the name of Jesus with a thankful heart. Provide for daily needs according to Your will, grant health and strength to labor faithfully, keep this heart from greed and from seeking more than is needed, and help all business to be conducted with integrity and love for neighbor. Teach contentment, deliver from worry, and set affection most of all on spiritual riches which do not fade. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
