Jesus: “What do you want?”

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Jesus: “What do you want?”

Do you remember the story of the blind beggar?

Imagine that the blind man’s response to Jesus’ “what do you want?” was:

Master, I’ve been blind for donkey’s years. Do you know I wasn’t born blind? My childhood friend hit my eyes while we played tennis one evening, and my parents didn’t have enough money to give me proper treatment. I was brought to this roadside to beg for alms when I turned fifteen and I’ve been here ever since. Getting food to eat has been an issue; the crowd following you haven’t been applying your teachings on generosity. In fact, just a few minutes before you arrived, they tried to shut me up when I was calling on you for help.

That’s typical of what a lot of people call prayer today. They choke the prayer time with lots of appraisals, complaints and reports.

Thank goodness, the blind man didn’t respond this way. He answered Jesus in an impressive manner, worth learning from. He was certain of what he wanted.

“Lord, I want to see,” was his reply.

A peep into God’s diary

The place of expressing our feelings is fellowship of some sort, but not the kind of prayer we make if we seek to effect changes. We can never drain or exhaust God with our needs. As a matter of fact, He never gets tired of listening to us, so it’s alright to express ourselves by telling God how we feel. There are however, times when we get short of words or don’t even know how to address certain situations. In such moments, the Holy Spirit is right alongside helping us, making intercession with groanings too deep for words.

However, when it comes to effecting changes in our prayers, we must be certain and clear on what we desire. Informing someone about a thing is different from making a request. Telling God that you’re emotionally wounded, for instance, is different from asking Him for emotional healing. Just make your request, God’s already got the information.

. . .for your Father knows
 exactly what you need
 even before you ask him!
Matthew 6:8 NLT

It is a show of faith to make our petitions simple and clear-cut, believing that we have our answers because we have a caring Father.

I tell you, you can pray for anything,
 and if you believe
 that you’ve received it,
 it will be yours.
Mark 11:24 NLT

Do not be anxious or worried
 about anything, but in 
everything [every
 circumstance and situation]
 by prayer and petition 
with thanksgiving,
 continue to make your
 [specific] requests known
 to God.
Philippians 4:6 AMP

Let God know your concerns. Shape your worries into faith-filled prayers; making it definite will even help you recognise quickly when the needs have been met.

God is asking you today, what do you want?

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