Early in his reign as king over Israel, God appeared to Solomon and said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”
Jesus once asked a blind man, “What do you want me to do for you?”
Solomon asked for wisdom and knowledge so he’d be an effective leader. Not surprisingly, the blind man asked to see.
What would you ask for?
1 John 5:14-15 says…
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us–whatever we ask–we know that we have what we asked of him.
Jesus said…
Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
Jesus also said…
If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
And…
Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.
I’ll confess, I have had a hard time with these passages. I’ve struggled to believe they’re really true. Haven’t we all prayed for things we believed were God’s will, but didn’t get?
I have. You probably have too.
So what are we to do when we pray for things we believe are God’s will, but nothing happens?
Let me suggest five things…
1. Regardless of what happens, don’t doubt God’s love, God’s goodness or God’s faithfulness. One of the greatest sins I commit is when I mistake disappointment with life with disappointment with God. We live in a broken world. Bad stuff happens. To all of us. No one is immune to hardships. We will never understand (at least in this life) everything God does or doesn’t do, but we can’t allow our pain, confusion or disappointment to lead to questioning His character. I’ve done that. It leads to a bad place.
2. Don’t give up. Some prayers aren’t answered right away. Some are answered after many years. It’s easy to become discouraged and quit, to stop believing, to lower our expectations of God, so we won’t feel disappointment. I’ve done that too. Frankly, I believe it’s offensive to Him when we lower our expectations of Him.
3. Remember that when He doesn’t answer the way we’d hoped, His peace and comfort are available to us no matter what we go through. It also could meant He’s got something better planned for us. Either way, we can’t lose.
4. Know that faith pleases God (Hebrews 11:6). We often talk about getting to know God better, well, here’s something we can know for certain about Him: He likes to be trusted. When we believe Him instead of our circumstances, it gives Him pleasure.
5. Be sure to seek more than just an answer to prayer. Seek God. I have made the mistake of intently seeking an answer to my prayer, but not intently seeking Him. Then once the answer came, I stopped seeking. Why? Because I had what I wanted. There’s nothing wrong with praying hard and long for what we want, but it can’t take precedence over seeking God Himself. I started the year by suggesting we make delighting in God our top priority for 2014. When we do, an answer to prayer wouldn’t cause us to stop seeking, but would motivate us to seek Him even more.
Is there a goal or desire or dream you’ve given up on?
What is it?
What are you believing God for?
I am believing for a home 2 bedrooms 2 bathrooms a balcony at least washer and dryer so I won’t have to go to the laundry mat. Please pray for me, a good job so I can pay for my independence and not have to depend on anyone to help me.
On your point #2, it struck me (or God struck me!) that God sometimes waits until “the last minute” to provide an answer, intervene, or what not. I am currently pondering a very serious decision, but there is absolutely NO GUARANTEE for me that it will pan out. It’s more or less ‘hit and hope.’ Move forward with not much light to guide me. I’ve wondered why God doesn’t either just open a big broad way for me on that decision if indeed it is “a go” or just shut it down if it’s a “no go.” I’ve taken comfort lately in the fact that God sometimes waits until it looks like it’s too late. I suppose the case with Lazarus being brought back to life is another example.
In the intervening time, I am asking God what it means to “delight in him” and also comforting myself with the fact that Jesus said, “your heavenly father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.”
(Genesis 22:10) And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
(Genesis 22:11) And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
(Genesis 22:12) And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.