Based on Luke 18:1-8

MEMORY TEXT:  "Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" (Matthew 19:24).

Our prayers reflect what is important to us.  If our goals are materialistic, this will be reflected in our prayers.  In Matthew 6 Jesus tells us not to make material things our first concern.  Instead, He admonishes us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. (Do a self audit of your last 10 prayers.  If you are like many people, they probably were mostly about what Jesus told us not to worry about!)

If material prosperity in this life were promised to God's children, then our prayers are a cruel joke.  Most of the people on this planet are poor, so either we aren’t God’s children or else He does not hear our prayers.

Jesus was not against the wealthy.  He believed hard work deserved reward.  He did not teach that riches are evil, but He did remind His listeners that riches are dangerous.  Jesus warns us that we cannot serve two masters.  The way is not to balance the material with the spiritual; we must put spiritual things first.  "Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Matthew 6:19-21).

We can transfer money from bank to bank, but we cannot transfer money to heaven.  When Jesus tells us to lay up treasure in heaven, He is not so much asking us to give money to charity as He is asking us to have a spiritual rather than a materialistic perspective on life.

We must be careful not to measure the blessings of God with a material yardstick.  Some religious people are driving fine cars, wearing designer clothes, and living in expensive houses, which they claim were given to them by God as an answer to their prayers.  Faith and prayer are seen as a way to do "insider trading" with God.  Persons in this camp would be among those who were chased out of the temple when Jesus said, "You have made My house of prayer into a den of thieves” (Luke 19:46).

Are you praying about your needs or about your wants?