The only way you can get what you want from God is to want what He
wants instead of what you want.
That’s it. That’s the whole deal.
Submit your will to His. Seek His kingdom first, desire His glory
first, and let the rest of it go. And you’ll get what you seek and desire.
Guaranteed.
He is committed to exalting His Son. So that’s what’s going to happen.
Jesus will be lifted up. You and I better be in the “lifting up Jesus”
business. Because any other business is going to crash and burn.
I hope you don’t think I’m playing word games with you. But the truth
is, you and I, puny human beings, will not manipulate the Almighty God of the
universe. There is no secret formula of faith and optimism that will make the
Lord of glory do anything. Everyone and everything will bow to Him.
The secret of answered prayer is to figure out what God wants, and
then pray for that. Not to bamboozle Him into giving you whatever your outrageous
little heart desires. That’s not going to happen.
He’s God, Creator, King, Sovereign, Lord, Absolute Ruler, the Beginning
and the End. Not a genie in a bottle.
Our selfish hearts will always think that God should do what we want.
That’s called magic. It’s called paganism. That’s part of what’s wrong with us,
and anybody who tries to layer it with spirituality is a false teacher. Our
pride is ugly to God. It’s another way of saying, God, you should worship me. And who does that sound like? It’s what
got our adversary kicked out of heaven, and it will do us no good.
Jesus promised, If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask
whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. (John 15:7)
Exactly. If we live our lives in Him, if His words take root in us to
shape our minds and transform our hearts and conquer our wills, then whatever
we ask will flow out of our adoration of Christ and our desire to see Him
lifted up. You better believe God will always answer prayers like that.
Don’t waste your time on people who purport to tell you how to get
what you want from God. Concentrate on submitting to Him, lifting up His Son,
and all will be well with your soul.
And now, a few verses of Scripture...
And now, a few verses of Scripture...
- For you save a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down. (Psalms 18:27)
- He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. (Psalms 25:9)
- The LORD lifts up the humble; he casts the wicked to the ground. (Psalms 147:6)
- For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation. (Psalms 149:4)
- Toward the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble he gives favor. (Proverbs 3:34)
- When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom. (Proverbs 11:2)
- All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. (Isaiah 66:2)
- But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:6, 7)
- Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, (1 Peter 5:5b, 6)
- And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. (1 John 5:14, 15)
