QUESTIONS OF LIFE
Our motivation can also be a hindrance to getting what we ask for. Not every request for a new Porsche gets answered !
You want something but don't get it...You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures (James 4:2-3).
人生问题
我们的动机也可能成为我们得到所求之物的障碍。并不是每一份关于新保时捷的请求都会得到回应！
你想要某样东西，但却得不到……你得不到，因为你没有向上帝祈求。你们求也得不到，因为你们怀着错误的动机祈求，想要浪费你们所得的，享受你们的宴乐（雅各书 4：2-3）。
A famous example of a prayer riddled with wrong motives is that of John Ward of Hackney*, written in the eighteenth century:
一个充满错误动机的祷告的著名例子是哈克尼的约翰·沃德（John Ward of Hackney）* 在十八世纪写的祷告：
O Lord, thou knowest that I have nine estates in the City of London, and likewise that I have lately purchased one estate in fee simple in the county of Essex ; I beseech thee to preserve the two counties of Essex and Middlesex from fire and earthquake; and as I have a mortgage in Hertfordshire, I beg of thee likewise to have an eye of compassion on that county, and for the rest of the counties thou mayest deal with them as thou art pleased.
O Lord, enable the bank to answer their bills, and make all my debtors good men. Give a prosperous voyage and return to the Mermaid ship, because I have insured it; and as thou hast said that the days of the wicked are but short, I trust in thee, that thou wilt not forget thy promise, as I have purchased an estate in reversion which will be mine on the death of that profligate young man, Sir J. L. Keep my friends from sinking, and preserve me from thieves and house breakers, and make all my servants SO honest and Faithful that they may attend to my interests, and never cheat me out of my property, night or day.
Sometimes prayers are not answered because what we are requesting is not good for us. God only promises to give us good gifts' (Matthew 7:11). He loves us and cows what is best for us. A good human father does not always give his children what they ask for. If a five-tear-old wants to play with a carving knife, hopefully a pod father will say 'no'! God will answer 'no' if the things we ask for are 'either not good in themselves, or not good for us or for others, directly or indirectly, mediately or ultimately, as John Stott has written.
The answer to our prayer will either be 'yes', 'no' or sometimes 'wait', and for this we should be extremely pateful. If we were given carte blanche we would never dare pray again. As the preacher Martyn Lloyd-Jones put it, I thank God that he is not prepared to do any-thing that I may chance to ask him...I am profoundly grateful to God that he did not grant me certain things for which I asked, and that he shut certain doors in my face, Any Christian who has been a Christian for some time will appreciate this sentiment. Ruth Graham (married to Billy Graham) told an audience in Min-neapolis, 'God has not always answered my prayers. If he had, I would have married the wrong man-several times. Sometimes we will not know during this life why the answer was 'no'.
That is why the promises in the Bible that prayers will be answered are sometimes qualified. For example, John writes, 'If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us' (1 John 5:14, italics mine). The more we get to know God, the better we will know his will and the more our prayers will be answered.
(*Biography.
John Ward of Hackney, a wealthy and unscrupulous business man, who appears to have been a Whig under Anne, was returned unopposed for Weymouth in 1722, after standing unsuccessfully for it in 1710 and 1713, and for Aldeburgh in 1718. He made his only reported speech on 21 Feb. 1724, against a petition from the subscribers to the Bahama Company (see Guise, John). Next year he became involved in a dispute with the executors of the late Duke of Buckingham, from whom he had leased some alum works in Yorkshire for 19 years in 1705. The lease entitled Ward to require the Duke to buy up to 740 tons of alum a year at £10 a ton, the normal price being £15. Ward’s practice was to require the Duke to take up his full quota of alum each year on the ground that there had been a slump in the market for it; to persuade him to store the alum so purchased at Ward’s works pending a recovery in the price; and to sell it himself on the open market, thus being paid twice over for it, once by the purchaser and once by the Duke. Before the fraud was discovered the Duke had been cheated out of over £70,000, of which only £10,000 was recovered from Ward.
When the lease expired the Duke’s executors, acting on behalf of the new Duke, a minor, instituted proceedings in Chancery against Ward for failing to comply with a covenant requiring him to leave 351 tons of alum on going out. Ward’s defence was that he had been released from this covenant by a note from the Duke, which was proved to relate to another matter but to have been altered by Ward to suit his purpose. On losing his case he set up a claim to parliamentary privilege. When this claim was rejected by the Commons he appealed against the Chancery decree to the House of Lords, who not only rejected his appeal but ordered the attorney-general, Sir Philip Yorke, to prosecute him for forgery. He was convicted, expelled from the House of Commons, and, after evading justice for eight months by absconding, was brought up and sentenced to a fine of £500, to stand in the pillory for an hour, and to give security for his good behaviour for nine years. A large crowd, including many members of both Houses, gathered in Palace Yard to witness his ordeal, at the end of which, though protected from pelting by a strong body of constables, he was taken down bleeding at the mouth and senseless for some hours. A few weeks later he had recovered sufficiently to write to Yorke that he had instructed his solicitor to retain him in an impending case, adding that he freely forgave him.
Ward’s subsequent career is summarized in Pope’s note to the line bracketing him with another contemporary scoundrel, Colonel Charteris:
He was suspected of joining in a conveyance with Sir John Blunt, to secrete fifty thousand pounds of that director’s estate, forfeited to the South Sea Company by Act of Parliament. The company recovered the fifty thousand pounds against Ward; but he set up prior conveyances of his real estate to his brother and son [Ralph and Knox Ward] and concealed all his personal, which was computed to be one hundred and fifty thousand pounds. These conveyances being also set aside by a bill in Chancery, Ward was imprisoned, and hazarded the forfeiture of his life, by not giving in his effects till the last day, which was that of his examination. During his confinement, his amusement was to give poison to dogs and cats, and to see them expire by slower or quicker torments. To sum up the worth of this gentleman, at the several eras of his life, at his standing in the pillory he was worth above two hundred thousand pounds; at his commitment to prison, he was worth one hundred and fifty thousand, but has been since so far diminished in his reputation as to be thought a worse man by fifty or sixty thousand.
He died 30 July 1755, predeceased by his only son, Knox Ward, Clarenceux king of arms, an office purchased for some £3,000 in 1725, when Ward was salting away his assets from his creditors. )
How should anyone pray to Almighty God?
God wants to hear what is on our hearts 💓
Use this mnemonic ACTS.
A ≈ adoration
praising God for who He is
and what He has done.
C ≈ confession
asking God's forgiveness for anything that we have done wrong.
T ≈ thanksgiving
for health, family members, friends, everything, etc.
S ≈ supplication
praying for ourselves, for our friends, neighbours, and for others.
任何人应该如何向全能的上帝祈祷？
上帝想听到我们心中的声音💓
使用这个助记符 ACTS。
A ≈ 崇拜
赞美上帝，赞美他是谁
以及他所做的一切。
C ≈ 忏悔
为我们所做的任何错事祈求上帝的宽恕。
T ≈ 感恩
为健康、家人、朋友、一切等。
S ≈ 恳求
为我们自己、我们的朋友、邻居和他人祈祷。
(French)
Comment prier Dieu Tout-Puissant ?
Dieu veut entendre ce que nous avons sur le cœur 💓
Utilisez ce moyen mnémotechnique : ACTES.
A ≈ adoration
louer Dieu pour qui il est
et ce qu'il a fait.
C ≈ confession
demander pardon à Dieu pour tout ce que nous avons fait de mal.
T ≈ action de grâce
pour la santé, la famille, les amis, tout, etc.
S ≈ supplication
prier pour nous-mêmes, pour nos amis, nos voisins et pour les autres.
(German)
Wie sollte man zum Allmächtigen beten?
Gott möchte hören, was uns auf dem Herzen liegt. 💓
Verwende diese Eselsbrücke: HANDLUNGEN.
A ≈ Anbetung
Gott preisen für das, was er ist
und für das, was er getan hat.
C ≈ Sündenbekenntnis
Gott um Vergebung für alles bitten, was wir falsch gemacht haben.
T ≈ Danksagung
Für Gesundheit, Familie, Freunde, alles usw.
S ≈ Flehen
Für uns selbst, unsere Freunde, Nachbarn und andere beten.
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