There are more people that play lottery than we would really
know. This is not just in terms of those who play anonymous but about those who
gamble their performance in order to strike God’s favour and blessings in their
life.
A lottery gospel is one that states “do the best that you
can do, fast and pray when told to, observe all observances for you might not know
which will get heaven to respond to you.”
It’s a game of chance. It’s about pressing in until God
bends to your favour. We have such in a prayer acronym that is known as P.U.S.H
(Pray Until Something Happens). So the whole idea is that when God is impressed
and satisfied with how far you went without food, then He tells the angels “It’s
time, he has paid his dues give him what he wants now”
What kind of a God who is a father will only respond to the
needs of his children only when they have asked enough or pressed him well
enough. Religion has presented God as insensitive and demanding.
The lottery gospel mentality projects a God who hardly cares
until his favourite song is played on the radio. Just the same way some people
believe that God only shows in the meeting when their favourite hymn or song is
done by the choir. The anointing of God’s spirit has his own Top-10 charts.
At certain cases which I have personally witnessed the
praise has to be sung in a very vibrant tempo or it will delay the move of the
Spirit. So we have to strike the right chord, right song, right clap, right
dance, right beat for the Spirit of God to manifest in our services before the
people can be blessed.
That is totally unlike the Christian faith in the Bible. God
does not need to be pleased by you employing the right combination of prayer,
fasting and praying. He is only pleased by faith (Hebrews 11:6)
When we place our faith in Christ, we are resting from our
own labors and sins. The labour to be blessed and prosperous ceases in true
faith. Faith says that I have the blessing even in the face of disqualification
because it sees Jesus as the qualification.
Only after religion enters do we begin the vicious cycle of
performance based Christianity, where we feel that we must do things to please
God. This cycle takes our rest away from us, forcing us to “stay saved” with
our diligent works and “get blessed” by our good works. The joy of salvation
will always be at the mercy of our last failure.
The parable of the persistent widow is not to teach us
persistence is the way to please God, it is supposed to contrast the judge and
our Father. Jesus said “your father is NOT like that!” so persistent prayer and
fasting is not the way to God. He is already dwelling in us waiting to hear us
speak our desires. He gave us an invitation: “Cast all your cares upon Him, for
he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7)
God is not waiting on you to strike the right combination of
good works for Him to bless you. He has already blessed you in Christ Jesus
(Ephesians 1:3)
Faith is not a try-your-luck approach to God. Faith is borne
out of revelation, a revelation of the heart of the Father towards you. Your
faith is well communicated when you know what the Father has blessed you with
(Philemon 1:6)
Stop expecting that one day heaven will respond to you. Its too
late because before you were in that situation heaven had already responded
when Jesus came to be the end of your struggles. So Rest in Him and find peace.
