In John 5, the unbelieving Jews were seeking to kill Jesus because Jesus made Himself equal to God by Calling God His Father. And in verse 39 - 44 we find Jesus’ accusation of these unbelieving Jews:
39 “ You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;
>> these unbelieving Jews read the Bible to obtain eternal life, but they don’t realize that the Bible is all about Jesus
40 and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.
>> even though they seek after eternal life, they won’t get it since they are unwilling to come to Jesus
41 “I do not receive glory from men;
42 but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves.
>> These unbelieving Jews don’t love God at all
43 “I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him.
>> Jesus came, not seeking His own glory, but seeking the Father’s glory and yet, the Jews don’t receive Him which is not surprising since they don’t love God the Father. But, if a cult leader or a false teacher come along seeking his own glory; trying to glorify himself instead of glorifying God the Father; trying to establish his own kingdom rather than build God’s kingdom, these unbelieving Jews will gladly receive such a cult leader.
44 “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?
>> So Jesus ask: how can faith arise in them when all they are concern about is receiving praise and affirmation and approval from each other rather than from God?
Verse 44 is a good verse to meditate on. Jesus ask:how can faith arise when the Glory of God is not on our agenda? I believe one key component of faith is having a mind that is concern for God’s glory.
This has implications on our prayer life: if we are to pray with faith, we need to be concern about God’s glory. In other words, one of the key contributing factor in praying prayers of faith is to pray, being motivated by God’s glory. We pray for things to happen for the purpose that God be glorified.
In our prayer life, there will be many things that will fill our prayer list. So let’s be mindful to be motivated by God’s glory rather than our own glory or our own ministry’s glory or our own church’s glory. We need to see beyond our little kingdom, and be focused on God’s kingdom, God’s glory. If not, our prayers will be stripped of a crucial dimension – the dimension of faith. And one key component of faith is the concern for God’s glory and God’s approval.
So I believe that the person who prays for things to happen because he is concern about God’s glory is the person who is praying prayers of faith! Think about that =D
