PRAISE & PRAYER PROMPT ••• I want to know God’s will.
I want to stand on my tiptoes and peek over His shoulder at what’s coming so I can be prepared.
And then push full steam ahead to get it done so we can move on to the next item on God’s Heavenly to-do list.
But He doesn’t work that way and on more than one occasion, He’s had to remind me Who is running the show.
So how do we know what is God’s will?
Can we pray for whatever?
And as long as we’re praying, assume God’s obligated to answer?
The short answer—no.
A lot of people jump on Psalm 37:4 NLT, which says, “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.”
Oh, how this verse is taken out of context!
People latch on to the “he will give you your heart’s desires,” and miss the part about “Take delight in the Lord.”
We have to be friends with God!
He’s not a genie to grant wishes.
We become friends with Him and then “HE WILL GIVE YOU your heart’s desires.”
Emphasis mine because He is going to plant in your heart desires that line up with His will.
I imagine if He gave us all the desires of our worldly hearts, He’d be passing out yachts like they were sticks of gum!
This isn’t about our will, but His.
The closer we become to Him, the more our hearts line up with His.
Proverbs 19:21 says, “You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail.”
Which is great news because it means I don’t need to worry about messing up His plans.
He’s going to accomplish His goals in spite of me, but as His friend, He can use me to help make things happen (which is pretty awesome!)
Jesus said, in John 15:7, “But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!”
This promise is reiterated in 1 John 5:14-15, “And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.”
Today, as you pray, thank God who wants to be our Friend.
Thank Him for opportunities to be used by Him to help make His will happen.
Ask the Holy Spirit to help you grow closer so that your heart’s desires will line up with God’s purpose.
And when you know that what you’re praying is God’s will, not yours, ask for patience as you trust in Him to fulfill His promise.
One Response
“The closer we become to Him, the more our hearts line up with His.”Amen