Conditional Prayer

Someone sent me this lovely prayer.

Father, we thank you for your tender mercies. Thank you for our friends and family. Where there is sadness, give us joy. Where there is pain, give us comfort. Where there is self-doubt, give us strength. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Terrific. Right? Yes, right up to the point when they tell me if I don’t pass on the message something terrible will happen to me. WHAT? Absolutely nothing in the Bible collaborates this thinking.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered King Nebuchadnezzar, “Your threat means nothing to us. If you throw us in the fire, the God we serve can rescue us from your roaring furnace and anything else you might cook up, O king. (Daniel 3:16-17, MSG)

Prayer- Lord, keep us reading your Word so that we can recognize and ignore fearsome, yet powerless threats. Amen.