Are We Praying For What Matters Most?
Let’s evaluate our prayers in light of Scripture and prioritize our spiritual and eternal needs over our material and temporary concerns.
Every night before we put the kids to bed, we have each of them pray. We encourage them to think first about what they’re grateful for and should thank God for, and second about petitions they want to make—that is, things to ask God for.
This won’t come as any surprise, especially from a five-year-old and a seven-year-old, but they never pray for anything we might call spiritual. All of their prayers are for material things.
For example:
“God, thank you that I got to go to school today.”
“God, please help me get over this cold and stop coughing.”
“God, thank you for this new toy I got.”
“God, help Papa get to Florida safely this week.”
If we’re honest, we tend to default to the same pattern, even as adults. When we pray, the most natural requests are for material needs rather than spiritual ones.
There’s nothing wrong with practical prayer requests. But when we study the prayers of the Bible, we find that many of them focus more on spiritual needs than on practical concerns.
The Emphasis of the Lord’s Prayer
Consider the model prayer in Matthew 6. Jesus teaches his disciples to pray like this:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. (Matthew 6:9–13)
If we break the Lord’s Prayer into its various petitions, we find seven distinct requests, though some are parallel:
Hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts.
Lead us not into temptation.
Deliver us from evil.
Of those seven petitions, how many concern material or practical matters?
Only one: “Give us this day our daily bread.”
When I read that sole material request, my mind goes to what Jesus said to the devil during his temptation in the wilderness. Quoting Deuteronomy 8, he said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). Even as Jesus teaches us to pray for our material needs, he gives us reason to look beyond our physical needs to our greater spiritual needs.
In the Lord’s model for prayer, roughly six of the seven petitions concern spiritual matters. I’m not suggesting we calculate ratios every time we pray, nor that we must strictly follow this pattern in every prayer. Still, the proportion is instructive. Our spiritual needs will always be greater than our material needs, and the rest of Scripture confirms it.
Treasures That Last
Just after teaching his disciples how to pray, Jesus said,
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19–21)
Soon after, in the same sermon, he said,
Do not be anxious, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:31–33)
Jesus was not suggesting that we have no concern for material needs. He was teaching that our spiritual needs must take priority. In John 6, he went even further, saying, “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you” (John 6:27).
In other words, do not be wholly consumed with food that perishes. Why? Because it perishes. It is temporal. From our food to our clothing to our homes and cars, even our health, none of it will last forever. So Jesus says, let your greatest treasure be in heaven. Seek first the kingdom of God because, in the end, it is all that will matter when material things are gone.
In Mark 8, Jesus says:
If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? (Mark 8:34–36)
Even if we could gain everything we ever wanted—all the money in the world and the best it could buy—what would it matter? Moses wrote, “The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away” (Psalm 90:10).
At best, we might enjoy wealth and health for a few decades. But then what? What would it profit us to forfeit our souls for material prosperity we can only enjoy for a short time?
I believe it was Alistair Begg who said, “Hold material goods and wealth on a flat palm and not in a clenched fist.” That is essentially what the apostle Paul says near the end of 1 Corinthians 7:
The appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away. (1 Corinthians 7:29–31)
Though that sounds contradictory, Paul’s point is that we should hold the present form of this world loosely. Do not grip it too tightly, because it will slip from our hands. The present form of this world is passing away. Its appointed time has grown very short.
The physical and material do matter, but not more than the spiritual and eternal. We see this reflected in the prayers of Scripture.
Prayers That Reveal the Heart
Let’s begin in 1 Kings 3. Solomon has become king in place of his father, David, and he feels overwhelmed by the responsibility. The Lord appears to him and says, “Ask what I shall give you” (1 Kings 3:5).
This seems like the perfect opportunity for practical requests. Lord, give the nation political stability. Grant us peace and prosperity. Help us fortify our walls; we have enemies all around us. Show me how to reform the tax system. If I put myself in Solomon’s place, I can imagine praying along those lines.
But that’s not what Solomon prays:
You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son > to sit on his throne this day. And now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude. Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people? (1 Kings 3:6–9)
In essence, he says, “Lord, give me wisdom. You have entrusted me with this responsibility, but I need your help. I cannot do it on my own. I need your wisdom for your people’s sake.”
We’re then told:
It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. And God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days.” (1 Kings 3:10–13)
What did Jesus say? “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). When our first concern is spiritual, God already knows our material needs. Solomon did not need to ask for prosperity or protection. The Lord knew what he needed and was pleased that Solomon’s heart was focused on his greater spiritual need.
Now consider Psalm 51, David’s prayer after his sin with Bathsheba. We might expect him to plead for a lighter sentence, for fewer consequences, or for the preservation of his public reputation. Instead, he prays,
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit. (Psalm 51:10–12)
He does not even pray for the preservation of his throne. He confesses his sin and asks for a pure heart.
Or think of Moses in Exodus 33 as Israel anticipates entering the Promised Land. We might expect him to ask the Lord to defeat future enemies, secure the land, and make it fruitful. Instead, he prays, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here” (Exodus 33:15).
It would be better to remain in the wilderness than to enter the Promised Land without the Lord’s presence. His primary concern is spiritual, not material. Without the Lord, prosperity would be worthless.
In the New Testament, Peter and John were arrested, threatened, and warned to stop preaching the gospel. After their release, they return to the church and pray. With their freedom, and possibly their lives, at stake, they do not ask God to subdue their enemies or change the political climate. They do not even ask for protection. They pray,
Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit,
“Why did the Gentiles rage,
and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers were gathered together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed”—for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus. (Acts 4:24–30)
After acknowledging God’s sovereignty over everything, including their suffering, they ask for boldness to keep preaching. That is their petition. Not safety. Not relief from persecution. Boldness.
Would it have been wrong to pray for protection? No. The Psalms include such prayers. But the focus of their prayer reveals the focus of their hearts. They are seeking first the kingdom of God. They are laying up treasures in heaven. They have “set [their] minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2).
Their physical safety is secondary to their faithfulness in preaching the gospel. Of course, they desire protection. No one wants imprisonment or worse. But as Jesus said, “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good … for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). When the apostles opened their mouths to pray, their petition revealed that they treasured the spiritual more than the physical.
Praying With Eternity in View
We could go on. Scripture contains many examples of prayers like these. As you read the Bible, take notice of them. Let them shape the way you think about your own prayers.
Let’s meditate more on our spiritual needs as we pray.
When we pray for physical healing, let’s also pray that we would trust the Lord in our afflictions and that he would use them for his glory.
When we pray for provision, let’s also pray for contentment.
When we pray for protection from persecution, let’s also pray for wisdom and boldness.
When we pray for success at work, let’s also pray for humility.
May we seek first the kingdom of God, remembering that eternity is far longer than the seventy or eighty years we live on this earth, and that our spiritual needs will always outweigh our physical ones.