God is glorified when He meets your needs.

神满足我们的需要时，祂得着荣耀。

In America, praying for our daily bread hardly seems necessary. Most people need to pray for self-control to avoid overeating! But Matthew 6:11 isn't talking about food only. It is a statement of dependency on God and an acknowledgment that He alone provides all of life's basic necessities.

在美国，人们几乎没什么必要为每日的饮食祷告。大多数人需要为节制、不要吃过量祷告！然而马太福音6：11并不仅仅在谈饮食。它是一个依靠神的宣言，并且认知到唯独神是全部生命基本需要的供给者。

Sad to say, however, many people today have reduced prayer to a means of self-fulfillment. Recently a woman sent me a booklet and wrote, "I don't think you understand the true resource we have in prayer. You should read this booklet." The booklet repeatedly emphasized our right as Christians to demand things of God. But that misses the point of prayer altogether, which is to glorify God (John 14:13). We are to give God the privilege of revealing His glory by meeting our needs in whatever way He chooses. If we demand things of Him, we are likely to become frustrated or to question Him when we don't get what we want. That's a serious sin!

然而，可悲的是，今天许多人已将祷告降低为满足自我的手段。最近有个妇人送给我一本小册子，上面写着：“我认为你不明白我们在祷告中拥有的真正资源，你应该读读这本小册子。”这本册子反复强调，作为基督徒我们有向神索取的权利，但它漏掉了整个祷告的重点，是要荣耀神（约翰福音14：13）。我们要给神特权，让神用祂所选择的方式满足我们的需要，来彰显祂的荣耀。如果我们向神索要，一旦我们没有得到我们想要的，我们很可能就灰心丧气或者质疑神。这是严重的罪！

David G. Myers, in his book The Human Puzzle (N.Y.: Harper and Row, 1978) said, "Some petitionary prayers seem not only to lack faith in the inherent goodness of God but also to elevate humankind to a position of control over God. God, the Scriptures remind us, is omniscient and omnipotent, the sovereign ruler of the universe. For Christians to pray as if God were a puppet whose strings they yank with their prayers seems not only potentially superstitious but blasphemous as well.

David G. Mayer，在他的【人类之困惑】（纽约哈伯和罗出版公司，1978年出版）一书中写道：“有些恳求的祷告看来非但缺乏对神固有的美善的信心，还把人类高举到了操控神的位置。圣经提醒我们，神是全知全能、宇宙间至高的掌权者。基督徒们祷告，仿佛神只是他们用祷告操控的玩偶，这样做不单是潜在的迷信，而且是亵渎神的。

"When prayer is sold as a device for eliciting health, success, and other favors from a celestial vending machine, we may wonder what is really being merchandised. Is this faith or is it faith's counterfeit, a glib caricature of true Christianity?"

“当祷告如同天堂的自动赎卖机，赎卖增进健康、成功、以及其他各种好处，我们不禁想知道它真正推销的是什么，是信心还是信心的仿冒品？是一幅真正基督教的油嘴滑舌的漫画吗?

Guard your prayers! Always be aware of the enormous privilege you have to approach the infinite God and receive His gracious provisions. Yet always do so with His glory as your highest goal.

谨守你的祷告！记住你拥有极大的特权，来接近这位无限的神并接受祂恩典的供应。然而你接近祂时，永远要以祂的荣耀作为你最高的目标。

Read Proverbs 30:8-9. What attitude toward God do those verses convey? Is that your attitude in prayer?

阅读箴言30：8-9.这些经文传达你向着神当有何种态度？这是你祷告的态度吗？

Read Matthew 6:19-34 and James 4:3. How might you respond to someone who says Christians have the right to demand favors from God?

阅读马太福音6：19-34和雅各书4：3.面对那些说基督徒有权向神索取各样好处的人，你会怎样回应？