This publication is the response to one of the review questions for a live radio interview on my article: ‘What the Church Refuses to Teach About Christianity;’ the particular question was…

You mentioned praying for greatness as an error, but consider Jabez in 1 Chronicles 4:10, his prayer was not an error; how is that?

First of all, if you check the article well, I indicate that, “God has already made us great, and so to pray to God ‘to make us great’ might be an ‘error;’ we just have to live out that greatness – if we know how!” You will also notice that I put the word error in inverted commas. Let me elaborate… (That reminds of the kpa kpa kpa man; he said “then you elaborate yourself!”) That was just by the way! So let me elaborate…

Yes, we just have to live out that greatness – if we know how! I am talking about you and I who, beyond being created in the image and likeness of God and given the most powerful biological machine called a brain, have also been born of water and the spirit; redeemed by the blood of Christ and justified by faith. So the Holy Spirit (the spirit of truth who is not given by measure, who also will even tell us of things to come; according to 3:34 and John 16:13 respectively) is in you, and you don’t see yourself as already great, and you are praying and asking God to make you great, then it might certainly be an error!

I like how Zig Ziglar puts it; he says: “Man was designed for accomplishment, engineered for success, and endowed with the seeds of greatness.” And this applies to even the unsaved, let alone you who have been saved.

I also like how Marrianne Williamson puts it; I will quote just portions; that: “Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone.”

Apostle Peter emphasised this point in 2 Peter 1:3, which teaches us that God’s divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. So when you pray that ‘God make me great,’ what do you really mean? Make you like Jesus? Well, 1 John 4:17 says that “Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world;” and fortunately Sinach has popularised it for us; so most Christians cannot say that, truthfully, they are not aware. Or you want to be like Thomas Edison (the science genius who is regarded as the greatest inventor ever)? He himself says that, “Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” Or like King Solomon, or even Bill Gates (The longest reigning richest man in the world; in contemporary times)? Well, King Solomon said in Proverbs 10:4 that, “He who has a slack hand becomes poor, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.” And the formular has not changed! And note that King Solomon is noted for his wisdom, and he is also regarded as the richest man in history; what he admonishes is very important! Of course, God gives us the power to make wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18) and indeed, He has already given to each of us that power, but it is up to the individual to use the power He gives, to make the wealth; He will not make the wealth for anybody. The plain truth is that, no matter how religious you are, if you don’t work hard you’ll be poor. It is said that, “God gives the nuts, but He does not crack them;” you have to do the cracking yourself! Bill Gates wisely decided to apply his love for programming computers, to solving prevailing problems and meeting emerging needs at a very tender age, spent countless hours learning, made mistakes and all; but worked consistently and persistently. Note: ‘DECISION!’ And it is said that, “A real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken a new action. If there’s no action, you haven’t truly decided.”

In any case, take Jabez’s prayer; you may click to see analysis of Jabez’s prayer.

This publication was the response to one of the review questions for a live radio interview on my article: ‘What the Church Refuses to Teach About Christianity;’ for the other review questions and responses you may click here.