HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, May 2, 2025 – Do we pray for success or for God’s will to be done?

Because sometimes God’s will is that we fail. Sometimes God’s will is that we suffer. Sometimes God’s will is that we lose and that we die, or that our loved ones fail, suffer, lose, and die.

The pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness is a wild goose chase, as only God can give us those things, and not by our pursuing them. We get them only by doing God’s will.

When people ask me to pray for them, I pray for God’s will to be done. Some people don’t like that. They insist that I pray for their health or their healing or their success in a venture, or whatever it is they’ve specifically asked me to pray for. But what if their spiritual well-being can only come from their worldly failure? What if God’s will is the opposite of what they want? What if they need to suffer in order to heal in the only way that really matters?

We cannot and should never pray against God. We must and only pray for God’s will to be done. If the old adage cautions us to be careful in what we wish for, how much more careful should we be in what we pray for?

Last fall, I spent a few months attending various church services around Halifax. I was struck by amount of time the ministers spent praying for the worldly success of this or that parishioner, this or that politician, this or that dignitary. The laundry lists of prayer requests were long and tedious and centered mostly on physical healings and money-earning ventures. Not one request was about spiritual healing. Not one request asked that God’s will be done. It was all just “make them feel better” or “give them money”.  Granted, this was the worldly church, but still.

“A people of none understanding.”

Sometimes God’s will is that we be allowed to fail and hit rock bottom. I know this from personal experience, because had I not failed and hit rock bottom, I would never have been reborn. The worldly church doesn’t focus on the need for some to hit rock bottom in order to heal, but we born-again believers need to focus on it. We need to highlight spiritual healing and well-being rather than physical or financial well-being. And the way to spiritual healing is almost always through worldly failure.

I will pray for you, if you ask me, but I will pray that God’s will be done and that you accept whatever God wills. I cannot and will not pray any other way.