Changed: CCV StudentsSample

WHAT IF I DON’T GET WHAT I ASK FOR?

I can still clearly remember the winter of my 3rd grade year. I grew up in Phoenix, AZ (where it NEVER snows), and what I wanted more than anything was a snow day. Just one glorious day where school would be cancelled and I could spend all day sledding down the hill just behind my house. I prayed, and prayed, and prayed some more…surely a God who loves His children would be willing to make some major climate adjustments to grant me just one snow day, right? Wrong! I prayed every day through the winter, and not one single snowflake fell in the desert. What’s up with that?! Did God not hear me? Did He not care about what I wanted? What’s the point of praying in the first place if God isn’t going to give you what you want? These are the deep questions that we’ll all have to wrestle with at some point when a prayer we felt was perfectly reasonable comes back with the answer of “no.” 

If we’re not careful, though, those questions can spiral into a deep pit of doubt and mistrust of God. You see, when we approach God as if He’s a magic genie, we are inevitably going to be disappointed. Just because we follow Jesus now, God is not obligated to grant us every wish that pops into our heads. In fact, it’s because He loves us that He says “no” to some of what we ask Him for. If my five-year-old daughter begged and pleaded for me to let her drive the car, it would be extremely unloving of me to give her what she wants…she’s almost certain to seriously hurt herself and other drivers on the road. Well, we may not be able to see the whole picture, but when God says “no” to a prayer of ours, it’s always because He is wants what is best for us. Even though that thing we really wanted seemed like the best thing to us, God can see the whole picture and knows that in some way it would not be what is actually in our best interests. 

So, what’s the point of praying if God is going to say “yes” or “no” based on what He wants anyway? Well, there are several reasons, but let me just focus on one of the big ones: prayer changes US even if it doesn’t change our situation. Sure, God does say “yes” to some prayers and we end up “getting what we want.” But, every time we come to God in prayer and submit to His ultimate will in our lives (remember the Yield step in our P.R.A.Y. acronym), we begin to want the things that God wants as we become closer to Him. The more time you spend in prayer and connecting with Jesus, the more your prayers will start to line up with the things that God actually wants for your life or for the world around you. You’ll pray less about yourself and the stuff you want, and you’ll pray more for people in your life and for God to begin changing the world around you through your life...those are the kinds of prayers that get a lot more "YES" responses from God. 

So today, read the following passages and spend a couple minutes in prayer. Then focus heavily on the Yield part of prayer, and tell God that you really do want whatever HE wants for your life.