06/01/2018
Do you tell God what you actually want, or need, when you come to Him in prayer? Perhaps you don’t really know yourself, you just know that you are hurting, or that you are in distress. Depression is such an illness. We don’t know why we feel this way, and yet we do. Most of the time though you know what it is, but God always wants you to tell Him. He wants you to take the time to understand your own needs, and to determine if what you desire is something within His will for you... and then call out to Him.
“And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
And Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?" And the blind man said to him, "Rabbi, let me recover my sight." And Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your faith has made you well." And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.”
Mark 10:47, 51-52 ESV
Most parents have responded to a child that is crying at the top of their lungs; the child is hurting, but they are crying so hard that they can’t speak. When this happens we as parents ask them over and over again to tell us what hurts, and finally in desperation say “If you don’t stop crying, and tell me what hurts, I can’t help you!”
Does this sound familiar? Perhaps you recall being the child yourself? Well God treats us very similarly when we come to Him in prayer. He wants us to be still, and tell Him what hurts... what we want. Perhaps you are thinking “God already knows what my desire, or problem is; why should I have to tell Him?” Well there are a couple of reasons that come immediately to mind...
The first is that it helps us understand our own needs. Sometimes it is obvious to us like a cut finger, but most things are not. On the surface we think they are, but as we explore them deeper, we find that they are not. Here is an example... we want God to heal a loved one from an addiction. It sounds pretty straight forward, but perhaps what really needs to happen is this; God needs to come into this person’s life, and they need to accept Jesus as their savior, and perhaps there is an abusive spouse or loved one that is really at the heart of the addiction, maybe they have an issue with low self esteem, or some other underlying cause that they are dealing with or even running away from. Telling God what we want from Him requires us to understand what is at the heart of what we want, and what we are really facing... it gives us insight into the complexity of our life, and shows us how to pray.
The second reason that comes to mind is that being specific in our needs during prayer allows us to determine if what we are asking is something that is within the will of God for us in the first place, or even something that is Godly at all. Perhaps we are asking God to provide us with enough money to buy a new suit of clothes, or a beautiful dress. How could God take exception to this? Right? Well, as we look at it further we see that we want these clothes out of pride... someone has nice clothes and I want to out-do them... or maybe we want them to catch the eye of a person that we are attracted to that isn’t a godly person, and who would ultimately ruin our lives.
God wants us to understand our own desires, and how they fit into His plan for us; sometimes our requests are very simple and straight forward (like the cut finger), but at other times they are complex. Then there are those, like clinical depression, that we just can’t possibly understand. If we are faced with such needs that are beyond our ability to comprehend, then God has made provision for us... we have the groaning of the spirit. God wants us to understand our desires, how they fit into His plan for us, and then to ask, but when we face the unfathomable, He doesn’t abandon us... He gives us the wisdom pent-up in the Holy Spirit within us, and a language that only He can discern.
“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
Romans 8:26-27 ESV
When we pray in understanding, or in the Spirit, God hears us, and responds. Then after He does so, we are expected to follow Him... to give Him the glory... and as Jesus so often said, to “Go and sin no more.” These are the proper responses to answered prayer, and the natural reaction of the faithful believer... are you ready to stop crying, and tell God what really hurts... what you actually want?
Prayer:
Father, thank you for answering our prayers, but thank you further Holy Father for expecting us to tell you exactly what we want. Help us LORD to look into the heart of our desires, and to know what we are truly asking of you. Give us insight into our wants, and reveal those things that have been hidden there. We know that we have a boil on our arm Father, and that we want the pain to go away, but it isn’t until the core of that boil is exposed, and removed, that healing can begin... help us to understand the core of our distress, and ask you to remove it. Help us to understand the heart of our desires, such as pride, or vanity, that lie beneath the skin of our misguided prayers. Teach us how to pray within your will, and as godly men and women... instruct us in how to seek more than our own wants, but your will for us.
Hear me Merciful Father as I cry out to you, and when you do, ask me “What do you want me to do for you?” Then Father, listen to me as I reveal the core, the heart, the root, of my desire. I pray Father that I have discerned your will for me, and that what I request is what you would have me ask of you. I pray that my desire of you is your desire for me. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my provider, my healer, my comforter, my God who knows all things of my heart, and beyond.
Rich Forbes