For many teenage athletes their success in sports can provide them scholarships and paths to better lives.
Do you believe it's ok for a person to pray to God before a job interview?
To me, prayer is given so that we may ask our Heavenly Father for wisdom and foresight when making important choices in life. Those choices can impact on our lives in a positive or negative way, so asking for guidance from his word is always a good idea.....but prayer for the outcome of a sporting match mocks the sanctity of it.
We live in a very different world today than in times past when people relied on a college education to secure a permanent job. The obsession with degrees has overtaken the demand for the jobs they can fill, which is why we see so many university educated young men and women waiting on tables, bar tending and holding down other jobs for which they are way overqualified. In this dog eat dog world, scholarships are not the be all and end all of a person’s ability to earn a living....and that is the important thing....no one has the right to ask God for a lifestyle.....as Paul said...
“To be sure, there is great gain in godly devotion along with contentment. 7 For we have brought nothing into the world, and neither can we carry anything out. 8 So, having food and clothing, we will be content with these things.
9 But those who are determined to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and many senseless and harmful desires that plunge men into destruction and ruin. 10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of injurious things, and by reaching out for this love some have been led astray from the faith and have stabbed themselves all over with many pains.” (1 Tim 6:6-10)
For a Christian, Jesus was our model...humble and not materialistic, raised by poor parents who worked hard to provide for their family. They put the worship of God first in their lives and understood the folly of endlessly chasing after material things.
In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus showed us the appropriate things to pray for.....
He said, “pray this way”....
“Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.....”
All of the first and most important things were about God and his name, his will, and the coming of his kingdom, prayer for daily necessities was down on the list. Forgiveness for the things we have done wrong is dependent upon our forgiving others. And to help us to identify temptations from the devil so as to act wisely....all these are the things to pray for.
The world does not promote contentment with life’s necessities....it promotes the love of money and discontent with everything if it’s not the latest and best....an endless treadmill of wants, not needs.
When Jesus prayed, it was about important things, not viewing God as some kind of a genie who grants wishes....especially if it’s for self aggrandisement.