What a totally different attitude we find in Jesus. His prayer says, “Not as I will, but as You will” (Mt 26:39). In other words, “I don’t want to get My own way. I want Your way, Father. I don’t want to write My own ticket. I’ll take whatever ticket You write for Me, Father.”
Jesus was born into a poor family and remained poor all of His earthly life. His disciples shared this lowly standard of living. Notice this encounter between a scribe and Jesus.
And a scribe came up and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (Matthew 8:19-20).
Toward the end of Jesus’ ministry, He was virtually friendless and penniless, “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). Had Jesus missed something about praying effectively? Did Jesus need to take today’s Health and Happiness Plan?
Did Jesus need our Health and Wealth Plan?
What would such people say about the apostles? Jesus gave them the power to heal people and to raise the dead. Had they chosen to, they could have used such power to become wealthy (Luke 8:43; Acts 8:18-20). Yet Peter, after three years of miraculous ministry with Jesus, was no richer. The same was true for the other apostles.
Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” (Acts 3:6).
Paul described himself as “the scum of the world” and “poor… having nothing,” (1 Corinthians 4:12-13; 6:10). He and his co-workers had health problems (Galatians 4:15; Philippians 2:27; 1 Timothy 5:23; 2 Timothy 4:20 cf. 2 Corinthians 12:7). Some today would say, “Peter and Paul, your troubles are evidence of a lack of faith. We must show you how to be in contact with the power—how to ‘plug into’ God’s formula for financial and social success!” Perhaps this is what is meant by 1 Timothy 6:5, that some are “deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.”
Now which is it? Is prayer a matter of pushing the right buttons for God to hand over the cash, or the health, or the social success? Or is prayer an act of submission, whereby you surrender to God’s will and say, “Not as I will, but as You will”?