A Prayer to Make First Things, First

In this episode of the PRESS Movement Podcast with guest host, De'Shaun Harewood, we examine one of the shortest prayers in Scripture—3 John 2—but discover one of its deepest truths. John's prayer for Gaius is often quoted as a promise of prosperity and health, yet the heart of the prayer is frequently overlooked. John doesn't simply wish success for Gaius; he desires that every area of his life prosper in proportion to the health of his soul. 

Deshaun walks us through John's relationship with Gaius, revealing a man known for his generosity, hospitality, and faithfulness. Yet John reminds him that even good works, ministry, reputation, and earthly success are secondary to spiritual growth. The repeated emphasis throughout the letter is truth. John rejoices not because Gaius is successful, but because he is walking in the truth.

Together, we discuss how easily modern culture chases temporary blessings while neglecting eternal priorities. Degrees, careers, finances, relationships, and achievements all have value, but none are worth sacrificing a healthy relationship with God.

The challenge is simple but life-changing:

Prosper your soul first.

When your soul is healthy, every other blessing can be received in the proper perspective.

Follow us on Facebook or Instagram or enjoy our blogs and even more episodes at www.presstopray.com!

Transcript

PRESS means to apply force. When God said PRESS, prayer reaches every single situation. He gave us permission to apply force to every situation that we will go through.

And in this podcast, we are going to learn to apply force to what's applying pressure to us. Greetings, everybody. Welcome back to the PRESS Movement Podcast.

We are now in countdown mode to the end of the prayers that are in the Bible. Cannot believe it. We're like 150 episodes in, but we have done this on every prayer in the Bible.

And in fact, the last one I want you to really watch out for, because I think we're going to do it, video format, and I'll have none other than my mama, who is a legend on that one. As we step forward today, though, we are going to a new book to 3 John, and I have another one of our recurring hosts. And I always say one of my favorite people, but I actually mean it every time I say it.

Many of my favorite people have been here, but I have another one today, and that is Brother De’shaun Harewood. So Deshaun, you're no novice to this. Go ahead and take us through 3 John.

All right. We'll be looking at 3 John chapter one, because there's only one chapter. The main verse being verse 2, which reads, Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

So looking at this, we understand that John's writing to someone, and he starts off just saying Beloved in this verse. Understanding who he's talking to is Gaius. Now, background of Gaius, if we look at verse 5 and verse 6, it says, Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and to strangers, which have borne witness of thy charity before the church.

So in these verses, we see that Gaius is a good guy. He says that he's doing good things to the brethren and to the strangers, and that there's been a witness of his charity before the church. So that leads historians to believe that this is the same Gaius in Romans 16 verse 23, which talks about Gaius being the host of Paul and of the whole church when it comes to Corinth.

And also in 1 Corinthians 1 14, saying that he was baptized of Paul. So when we're talking about Gaius, this is somebody who, he's not new to this. He's been a part of this.

He's been able to experience what Paul and looking at the Bible, understanding what Paul did and how much he went through, understanding that Gaius saw a little bit of this, and he even was baptized by him. So in verse 1, John is saying that elder unto the well-beloved Gaius, he's already saying, I'm ordering you, but this is somebody that I'm saying that I love. This is somebody who's done something before.

And then he says, whom I love in the truth, letting us know that there's a certain way that he's loving him. It's not the same way as, oh, I feel a certain way towards somebody. So I love them or have this affection towards them, but he's saying, I love you in the truth.

Even looking at just what John writes in John 17, 17, he says that the Word is truth. And 1 John 5 and 6, he let us know that the Spirit is truth. He's letting us know that there's certain ways that lead to the Lord in which I love you.

So it makes sense in verse 2, when he says, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. Understand that even as literally just means just as. So he's saying, as your soul prospers, I want your health to prosper, but there's one can't prosper without the other.

If your soul's not prospering, which just, and this just means to succeed in a regular sense, it's kind of like going up steps. Each step that you go up is prospering, it's prospering, you're getting higher. So he's saying, even as your soul, as it goes up and it goes up and it if you're not prospering with the Lord.

Understanding that when John is saying, I love you in the truth, I'm loving you in this way. I'm loving you in the way of your soul. It's more important to me than how you're feeling.

1 Timothy 4 verse 8 says, For bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. When Paul's writing this, he's letting know bodily exercise is cool. It does good things, but godliness is profitable unto all things.

So when John is writing to Gaius, he's saying, this is great. I want you to prosper. I want you to be in health, but your soul is so much more important.

I care about how you're doing with God. I love you in the way in which you're going with God. It's not just, oh, you're my brother or you're my son, or you're just somebody I'm looking after.

No, I see you in the truth. He says in verse three, for I greatly rejoice when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in me, even as thou walkest in the truth. Verse four, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in the truth.

Every single time is just about truth, truth, truth. I love you in this. So I want you to prosper in this way.

I want your soul to be saved above all things because you're a wonderful man. You're somebody that's taking in, as the Bible even said, the whole church. You're bringing in everybody to you.

You're a good person, but that's not enough to get you to heaven. One time thing, this isn't just, I feel good in this moment. This isn't momentary.

I care about your eternal life. I love you eternally, not just for this moment. You know, I think it's very common right now to specialize in the things that are temporal or the things that aren't permanent.

Because you see a lot of people who just want to more or less use God. A lot of them would never say it like that, but that's what it boils down to that, you know, you want the stuff. You can give an offering and get this from God, or if I'm good enough, maybe I'll earn that.

But that is definitely opposite of what John is teaching here. You know, he is telling them, I don't even want you to have the stuff if your soul can't handle it, if your heart can't handle it. As a young man, and I know you have goals for your life and you're in school and on track with this master's degree and practically a doctor in the making.

How do you balance the natural goals with the spiritual goals? Like, how do you make sure you're chasing the right thing? It's a great question. Because when you're talking Proverbs 13, eight came to my mind saying, remove far from me vanity and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches.

Feed me with food convenient for me. And that recently has been a prayer for me, just give me what I can actually handle, what I'm actually going to do something with. So to balance the natural goals and the spiritual goals is just to add God in every single goal.

There's no goal that I have that God's not a part of. There's nothing that I say I want that I haven't already prayed about. It wouldn't even come out of my mouth to somebody else first.

I'm going to God with it first every single time. I care so much about what He wants and what His will is that our will is getting to a point where it just aligns. What He wants is what I want.

So if He hasn't said He wanted it, I'm not going to chase after it because I already know just by His word and what He said, what His purpose for me, this is what I need to go after. And all the other things that come in and help along the way, thank you, but this isn't more important than what you want. Yeah, I know when I was about your age and getting married and all that, and he's not getting married today Gaius, don't let the rumor wheel start.

But I'm just saying these at that stage, when I was looking at all that, I prayed to God, I'm asking you for some of what I want and all of what I need, but I don't want more than I can handle. I never wanted to get to a place where I didn't prioritize God. And I think it's so important because you can have all the goals and you can have all the dreams and He might say no to this stuff.

And that's okay too when you're content with Him. When your soul is content, it shifts your whole perspective on what really matters. And I thank God for that.

I feel like that's what John was encouraging Gaius with because John, history says, again, not Bible, but history says this would have been near the end of his life. And John was the last of the disciples alive, by far, he outlived them. So he was kind of like this last OG, if you will.

He was the only one who'd really seen all this stuff and the only one who could still speak to it. So him writing you a letter, like, remember this, that has serious weight too. Yeah, he's letting them know that success and all these other things don't matter if your soul doesn't succeed.

The main thing is the main thing. It's easy to see, even just in the church world, when you do great things, so many things come after and people are going to follow and they're going to say all these great things they want to give you stuff, but this doesn't matter if you're not right with God. Because we've seen even now, God will use somebody who's not doing everything right, but your relationship is so important.

So he's coming down to Gaius and he's saying, this is just the main thing. You need to just look after God because there's other things that are going to come. But if you get that part right, it's going to happen eternally.

This is just an earthen vessel. This is just something for the right now, but what's coming forever. What I have for you, what God has for you is so much more.

Keep your focus right, no matter what's going on in the world, no matter how much you prosper and succeed, how healthy you are, how great things feel. Keep your focus on God. I love that.

Even at the end, he lets them know, I have more to say. This isn't it. He said, we're going to speak face-to-face, peace be with thee, our friends salute thee, saying this stuff is coming.

I'm coming. I have more, but this is what I had to write down. If I don't make it to you, you've got to get this part that no matter what, as your soul prospers, that's how your life should move.

If you're not moving with God, you shouldn't be moving at all. Mic drop, huh? Because that really does sum it up. If you're not moving with God, don't move.

That's what I want you to know. That's what I'm praying for you. That you prioritize God.

You prioritize what's important to him and let the other stuff fall where it may. Are there any closing words you'd like to share with the audience? Saying this, just keep up with God. Don't let the world overrun what God is putting in your life.

It's more important than what he has, and he's going to bless it so much more no matter how it looks. I think it's kind of part of the definition of just walking by faith and not by sight. It doesn't matter what it looks like when God's in it.

I agree. I'll tell you, I know it's summertime and it's easy to find things that are distracting. I think distractions is the name of the game, and summer especially.

God has a way of getting our attention, whether it's through health. Sometimes your health ain't prospering because your soul ain't. Sometimes it's your finances aren't prospering because your soul isn't.

That doesn't happen to everybody, but it does happen sometimes because he loves you. Because he wants you to stop, reprioritize, put first things first. I pray for us all that we will put first things first, that we'll prioritize our souls over everything else in this world.

And when we do and we fall in love with this prayer, we'll find out God leaves nothing untouched because prayer reaches every single situation regardless. Join the movement. Join the community.

Like, share, and subscribe to this podcast. Visit us at PressToPray.com or find us on Instagram or Facebook. Did you know that when you are quiet, your voice is missing to God's ears? I know some of us have prayed and were wondering, how long should I pray about this? Why should I pray if God already knows? How will I know God is answering? And what do I do when I feel like God's not listening? But God is listening for your voice.

It's too quiet in this world for the troubles we have. You have to raise your voice and God wants to hear from you. It's Too Quiet, a book about prayer, is designed to answer your prayer questions and build your faith.

Visit PressToPray.com.