Do you know for what you need to pray? Do you know what you need to ask?
Sometimes God places things in my heart. He prepares me for the task. He gives me direction. I pray for His will to be done. I pray for what He placed on my heart. Then He gives me what I asked and sometimes more!
God is not a candy store, so how does that work out?
I always have a wave of emotion when God answers prayers like that. It always happens when I least expect it. I sometimes find the task or opportunity He provides is a stretch beyond my comfort zone. I know that I have to be totally dependent on God to do it. Sometimes it takes my breath away or leaves me feeling weak at His awesome power and presence. Sometimes, I even cry at the depth of His love for me.
God encounters are memorable. Oh to be able to walk that close to Him and feel His presence every moment of my life.
In case you are wondering, I don’t get just anything that I ask. Again, God is not a candy store. I am also grateful for every time He has ever said, “No.”
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
Matthew 7:11
Great things come in God-shaped packages. God will give you what is good for you. That is not always what you would like to have. Since you do not know what tomorrow will bring, you don’t always know what is good for you.
And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
1 John 5:14-15
Let God shape your prayers. You must ask according to His will, not yours. So, how do you know what that is? The Holy Spirit will reveal it to you.
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6
Make the things that God gives you to do the desires of your heart.
Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.
Psalms 37:4-5
God created you with a purpose. When you live in line with and for that purpose, you are living in harmony with God’s plan for you. You are in effect walking in His perfect will. There should be no doubt that He will provide.
When God gives you the plan, the purpose, and the desire and you follow up by asking according to His will, He will answer what you ask because He intended for you to ask for it. Be thankful for what God gives you because great things come in God-shaped packages.
LIFE APPLICATION
Today’s challenge is to not be afraid to get out of your comfort zone. God will provide for His work! What has God placed on your heart to do for Him today? Have the courage to ask Him to provide for it and enjoy the blessings that come with answered prayer.