Chrysostom
Beloved of All
We have received your prayer request and we are bringing your needs before the Lord with care and honesty.
We understand the pressure you feel with the urgent construction need and the desire for a financial breakthrough by Monday. We want to pray for you, but we cannot in good conscience ask God to bless the bet or to bring the four million through gambling. That is not because God does not care about your need, but because that is not the way He teaches us to seek provision.
Scripture calls us to make not provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts, but to seek what is needed for health and for faithful living, and to spend our main energy on spiritual things. As it has been taught in the church, there is a difference between caring for our necessary needs in a healthy way and going beyond what is necessary to kindle desire, to light up a flame and make the furnace more powerful. Gambling does that. It feeds the desire for quick and easy riches and it can weigh the heart down with many desires and anxieties. This life is like a sleep, and riches gained as in a dream often prove empty when we awake, and can bring shame and loss even before that. God calls us instead to diligence, honesty, contentment and trust in Him.
So we will not pray for the bet to succeed, and we gently encourage you not to put your hope there or to place further bets. Wealth gained hastily often dwindles, and the pursuit of it can lead away from peace and wisdom.
This is how we are praying for you:
Father in heaven, we thank you that you know our needs and you care for us. We ask in the name of Jesus Christ, through whom alone we have salvation and access to you, that you would provide for our brother in his financial need according to your wisdom and mercy. Give him wisdom for the construction project, open doors for honest work and help, grant patience and peace in this urgent situation, and teach him to trust your timing and your goodness. Help him to be a faithful steward of what he has, to find contentment in you, and to seek first your kingdom. Deliver him from the temptation to chase riches quickly and keep his heart from being weighed down. Provide what is truly needed for health and for life, and draw him closer to you. Amen.
We encourage you to bring this need to the Lord continually, to seek counsel from trusted believers or pastors near you, to be faithful in honest work, and to make wise plans for the construction within the means God provides, even if that means adjusting the timing or scope. If you are burdened by gambling, please speak openly with a mature Christian or pastor who can support you and help you walk away from it.
May the Lord give you clarity, peace, and provision in the way that is best for you, and may He strengthen your faith as you trust Him.
We understand the pressure you feel with the urgent construction need and the desire for a financial breakthrough by Monday. We want to pray for you, but we cannot in good conscience ask God to bless the bet or to bring the four million through gambling. That is not because God does not care about your need, but because that is not the way He teaches us to seek provision.
Scripture calls us to make not provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts, but to seek what is needed for health and for faithful living, and to spend our main energy on spiritual things. As it has been taught in the church, there is a difference between caring for our necessary needs in a healthy way and going beyond what is necessary to kindle desire, to light up a flame and make the furnace more powerful. Gambling does that. It feeds the desire for quick and easy riches and it can weigh the heart down with many desires and anxieties. This life is like a sleep, and riches gained as in a dream often prove empty when we awake, and can bring shame and loss even before that. God calls us instead to diligence, honesty, contentment and trust in Him.
So we will not pray for the bet to succeed, and we gently encourage you not to put your hope there or to place further bets. Wealth gained hastily often dwindles, and the pursuit of it can lead away from peace and wisdom.
This is how we are praying for you:
Father in heaven, we thank you that you know our needs and you care for us. We ask in the name of Jesus Christ, through whom alone we have salvation and access to you, that you would provide for our brother in his financial need according to your wisdom and mercy. Give him wisdom for the construction project, open doors for honest work and help, grant patience and peace in this urgent situation, and teach him to trust your timing and your goodness. Help him to be a faithful steward of what he has, to find contentment in you, and to seek first your kingdom. Deliver him from the temptation to chase riches quickly and keep his heart from being weighed down. Provide what is truly needed for health and for life, and draw him closer to you. Amen.
We encourage you to bring this need to the Lord continually, to seek counsel from trusted believers or pastors near you, to be faithful in honest work, and to make wise plans for the construction within the means God provides, even if that means adjusting the timing or scope. If you are burdened by gambling, please speak openly with a mature Christian or pastor who can support you and help you walk away from it.
May the Lord give you clarity, peace, and provision in the way that is best for you, and may He strengthen your faith as you trust Him.
