Your Will, Not Mine
I will be the first to say that submitting my wants and desires to the Lord can be hard and a little scary. It takes a lot of strength to be able to say “God, I really want this. But I trust you enough to give it completely to you and let your will be done.” But you know what? I also will be the first to say that it’s so worth it! I have experienced the Lord’s plan play out over mine many times, and every single time I am both humbled and grateful. Praise him that our lives don’t play out according to our plans! Surrendering is difficult, but I promise it’s worth it.
1 John 5:14 says, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” For some context, John is writing this letter to other believers, not nonbelievers. In the previous verse (1 John 5:13) he says, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” For when we deeply and intimately know the Lord, we know we will receive eternal life. John tells us that! Our salvation does not depend on us, but on Christ and what he did on the cross. And because of that, we get to have full confidence in God. Not in ourselves, not in other people, and not in worldly possessions or accolades. That’s the good news!
We can put our confidence in both eternal life and in prayer. Prayer is powerful and it is purposeful. It is a personal conversation with the Lord where we get to ask him anything. But especially asking him anything according to his will. We know that he acts according to his will, not ours. And the scripture tells us that once we have asked according to his will, he surely hears us. And that really is such a gift. Thankfully, he doesn’t just give us everything we ever want and ask of him. Because his ways are higher than ours and he knows what’s best for our lives. Not us. (Even though we think we do, right?)
I know for me personally, there have been many times when I ask God for something, yet he doesn’t answer it the way I asked him to or how I pictured he would. It looked completely different. But you know what? It looked better. When I look back on those prayers and how they played out, I can humbly thank God for answering them HIS way. He has our best interest at heart. We can trust that he wants the best for us and that his plans are always going to be greater, whether we ever see it or not.
James 4:2-3 says, “Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong - you want only what will give you pleasure.” Take a minute to reflect and ask yourself where your heart is when you are asking God for something. Submit yourselves and your desires to God. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that we should never ask God for something we want. Let’s be honest, he already knows our hearts deeply and knows what we desire without us even having to say it. It’s good to be honest with God and boldly pray for things in your life. One of the most beautiful and wonderful parts about having a relationship with God is that he wants us to ask. Tell him your dreams, your hopes, and your fears. But at the same time, surrender to his will. Share with him your requests while also releasing them to him. Surrender your will to God’s will. We must make sure that our main prayer and priority is for HIS will to be done, not ours.
Challenges:
Pray. Of course, this is my main challenge for you. Talk to God. As believers with confidence in our eternity, we cannot go on living this life without communication with our Heavenly Father! This intimate time with the Lord is so crucial for our faith.
Be honest with God. Don’t beat around the bush with him. He already knows your heart, so tell him. Be honest with your desires and wants, while humbly surrendering your ways to his ways. It’s okay to ask, but his will should be your number one priority.
Reflect. Check your heart. Where is your heart when asking God these things? It’s important that we often check ourselves and our posture to make sure we are not trying to play God in our own lives, but allowing his will to be done over ours.
Prayer:
Lord, thank you for your provision and your faithfulness in our lives. Thank you that YOU are ENOUGH. We don’t have to have it all together and be perfect, but we can come to you just as we are, and you accept us with open arms. Thank you that your plans are better than ours! We praise you that you are in control, and we are not. I pray that we would be able to come to you and boldly pray for what we want, with the intention of completely surrendering it to you and making room for your will to be done over ours. I pray that we would trust you. That we would trust that you will take care of us, even when it’s difficult to surrender our will to you. You are always greater! We love you and praise you. In Jesus’ name! Amen!