Three Ways To Get What We Want

The word wish has no place in the Christian’s vocabulary

It’s seen very rarely in scripture

When used, it means to will or desire.

There is nothing more futile than wishing.

We see children wish for things they want and consider it cute

Wishing is dangerous if it is carried over into adult life.

If not careful, wishing will put us against God’s will for our lives.

Spend to much time on this, and we will lose our spiritual edge.

Once that happens, we try to get what we want not through work, but other ways.

We will be filled with empty wishes for a dreamer.

When we have a desire, we should compare it to what the will of God is for our lives.

If we determine it is out of his will, we should dismiss the notion and consider it no more.

If we continue to long for it, we need to take a look at our dedication we have towards God and his desires for us.

We must pray about these desires and how they fall into the will of God for our lives.

Acts 6:4 ESV

But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

Romans 12:12 ESV

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

Colossians 4:2 ESV

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.

All of these verses talk about prayer and how we are to be dedicated to it.

We must be in it constantly and make it a part of walk.

The last part of 4:2 says to be watchful with it in thanksgiving.

This is so we don’t get distracted

HM Carson said the following about watchfulness and prayer:

“Watchfulness suggests a danger to be avoided and this danger comes from two main quarters. The evil one make the believer careless, so that he neglects the very practice of prayer, or on the other hand he dulls his mind or distracts his thoughts. Hence watchfulness means a disciplined attention to this continuous ministry, and it also involves a concentration of the whole being on it discharge.

Prayer should undergird everything in our lives as believers.

If the desire if something we come to realize God wants us to have, then there are three ways to attain it.

We can work for it.

We can pray for it.

We can both pray and work for it.

Some things are out of the realm of possibility for us, but yet God could still provide us with it.

What do we do?

Prayer is the first answer.

If we have determined that our desire is in God’s will for our lives, but seems impossible to attain, God wants us to pray to him.

We should go to him with these requests and be bold in our asking.

We have been shown time and again in the Bible as well as others lives that nothing is impossible with God.

There are things we can obtain through effort put in the right direction.

If this is what it takes, yes we can pray for it.

However, God wants to see us put forth the effort he has given us to earn the prize.

The third is when we have something that we can’t quite reach with just our own ability.

These things take work and prayer.

This is probably where most of the things that are in the will of God for our lives will fall.

When we have to work for a goal as well as pray for it, this makes us co-laborers with God.

Dr. Simpson said, “that wen faced with these borderline tasks which we must work at but which we can never do alone, the thing to do is to work as if we had it all to do and pray as if we expected God to do it all.

But as for wishing, let the people who dream in vain deal with them. Let’s not waste our time there.

“May we remember that wishing leaves God out of the equation but praying puts Him into the equation and the solution if done according to His word and the leading of His Spirit.