Prayer, Money and Chuck E. Cheese

Prayer, Money and Chuck E. Cheese

This past week our two grandchildren from NC have been staying with us. So of course that meant a visit to Chuck E Cheese with all four grandchildren. In case you don't know what Chuck E. Cheese is all about, it is one of the most exciting places in the entire world. That is if you are under 10 (…or a 60 year old grandfather).

After you get past the mediocre food, you get to do some really fun things. These fun things include kiddie rides and a bunch of games designed for children (ages 2 – 10). Each game and ride takes one token to play. We had 70 tokens.

Every time you play a game, you win tickets. Then you take your tickets to the "Ticket Muncher" and redeem them for really cool stuff. After an awesome night of accumulating 534 tickets, we left with three nerf rockets and a sheet of stickers.

Since I was the oldest in our group, I was assumed to be the most responsible, and became the "token bank". At first I gave four tokens to each grandchild and received a huge smile, a well mannered "thank you PaPa" and a hug. I thought to myself; no wonder I love this place!

After about five minutes those four tokens were gone and I got a little excited. I was pretty sure I was about to receive another hug, cute little smile and gracious "thank you PaPa" from four of the most precious people in my life. I soon started giving out tokens one at a time instead of four at a time. I got the same cherished response; just four times as often.

And then it hit me. Doesn't this sound familiar? My Heavenly Father, who loves me even more than I love my grandchildren, owns all the money in the world. (Haggai 2:8, 1 Chronicles 29:11, 12) And He wants me to come to Him and ask Him for what I need. (Philippians 4:4-7, Matthew 7:7-8)

I must admit that I started to use those little tokens in Chuck E. Cheese for three things that night. I used them to play the silly games. I used them to satisfy a craving for my grandchildren's love and affection. But they also reminded me of one more way that God uses money in our lives.

Last week I was talking to a friend who is currently unemployed. In the conversation he mentioned that he was praying for employment. I assured him, that I too was praying for him.
I have talked to a number of Christian couples that are struggling financially. Most of them will tell me how they have taken their financial problems to God in prayer. Some have even gotten so desperate, they began fasting and praying over their financial situations. We all pray about our personal financial issues. This is what God wants.

God wants us to pray to Him (Psalm 50:15, Isaiah 65:24) and let Him know that we love Him and tell Him our needs. Isn't it incredible that the God of the universe wants me to come to Him and fellowship with Him through prayer? Just like I used those tokens to drive my grandchildren to me at Chuck E. Cheese, God will use money (and possibly even withhold it) to drive us to Himself through prayer.

Yes, God definitely uses money in the Christians life. We have seen that in the last few posts. He will use money to show His faithfulness. He will use money in our lives to show us how much we need Him. And yes, He will use money in our lives to stimulate our prayer lives. -- George Hutchison is a Board member at America's KESWICK and an instructor with Crown Financial

Digging Deeper: Proverbs 11; Psalm 81-83; Romans 11:19-36

Dig This Quote: If in fellowship of service I seek to attach a friend to myself, so that others are caused to feel unwanted; if my friendships do not draw others deeper in, but are ungenerous (i.e., to myself, for myself), then I know nothing of Calvary love.Amy Carmichael

Determined Digging: Level 1:Isaiah 54:17; Level 2: Psalm 103:15-19