Does God really want us to ask for what we want?

[Guest post by Ufuomaee]

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you…“ (John 15:7).

Well, going by the above verse, I’d say YES!  Why do we doubt God so much? 

But, this isn’t really why I’m writing this post.

A couple of days ago, I finished my latest book, The Naive Wife Trilogy. At least, I thought I did. And I was in bed, in the middle of the night, going over what happened. In Rachel’s Hope, the last book in the trilogy, a couple of my characters had been arguing about grace, and one accused the other of relying on a perverted grace because he was continuing in sin and talking about how gracious God is.

Well, at the end of the day, God, through my story, showed real grace to this fellow, who had practiced ‘sin now, ask for forgiveness later.’ So, I was asking God about that… That, was he actually right after all, because God was still gracious to him in the end? I didn’t want to send the wrong message to my readers.

Then God ministered to me.

He gave me a powerful message, which I inserted in the book and decided to share the following morning on Instagram. On Instagram, I expanded on the message, but the crux of the matter was, “If you truly believe God is gracious, you would not be afraid to ask Him for what you really want…”

By this, God showed me that my character, who said God was gracious but was doing as he pleased, did not truly believe God was gracious.

He was afraid to ask God for what he really wanted, and so, he thought he could do what many of us do – do it anyway, and ask for forgiveness later. But this behavior doesn’t show that we know God at all. It doesn’t show that we believe Him or we trust Him, or we think He loves us. We are deceiving ourselves that we have a loving relationship with the Father.

But if we have real faith in God, we would go to Him and ASK Him for that thing we want.

Whether or not it seems right, we will ask, and LET God grant us His favour or blessing, or tell us NO, not now, I have something better for you…or whatever. I don’t know if you’re following me.

So, you can check out the original message on my feed HERE.

The next day, a friend of mine wrote to me and expressed some concern about this business of asking God, whether or not we ought to ask for what we want, instead of asking for what God wants. That caused me to respond with more depth into the matter of asking God.

Hence the title of today’s post – “Does God really want us to ask for what we want?“

Please check out my response to her, which I also published on my feed HERE.

She later approached me and asked me to do a post on it, which is what I am trying to do now. I needed to give you this background, so you will get what I am trying to say. Someone else reached out after reading my response to my friend, saying they might have a divergent view. When I asked him about it, it turned out he was talking about prayer, and not specifically asking God.

He shared a view about prayer that I completely understand and appreciate, and has been my perspective too. Prayer isn’t about ‘asking God’. Let us be clear. I’ll share what I wrote to him and then expand on that too.

What I see is that you are talking about PRAYER. I am talking about one aspect of our prayer lives, and our relationship with God – our ability to ask. Prayer is a mountain topic. I wrote two posts on it on my blog years ago, which I believe are still applicable. Conversations With God Part One and Part Two.

The aspect of ‘Asking God’ is like a city in the country of prayer… But it’s very important that we have a right understanding of this too, otherwise, our lives and our fellowship with God would be hindered. Like you, I’ve leaned more on not asking God what I want, and only for His will to be done. I’ve been content in that. I saw the perversion of those who treat God as a genie. I didn’t want to be like that…

But there’s a reason God gave me this lesson, and it is so that “I may have life and have it more abundantly…”

Our relationship with God is by no means meant to be transactional. He is our Father and we are His children. Jesus said that anyone who comes to Him has to come as a little child…

Children ask without second-guessing their Father’s will…or His heart…or even what they are asking for. They look at their parents believing they love them and would do anything for them. And beyond this, that there is nothing impossible for them to do. So, they ask.

That’s what God wants from us.

Yes, He also commands and directs us, and He says No. Just like a good Father. But we must not be afraid to approach Him and ask Him. Because He is gracious and loving.

I hope that makes things even clearer.

Asking God is something we should be doing naturally, not as a means to exploit Him, or to be selfish.

The thing I am really trying to say is simple. If we believe God is gracious, we would go to Him and ask Him for what we want. Even if we think it might be contrary to His will.

Guess what, Jesus did that.

At the garden, before He was crucified, He asked God to take the ‘cup’ from Him. Yes, He later said He would do God’s will, even if it meant carrying the cup of His wrath. But He still asked, “if You are willing…take this cup from Me” (Luke 22:42).

Let me give you another example, which I think would really get you to understand how we hurt ourselves by not asking God for what we want.

There’s a story in the Bible about five sisters, who were passed over for inheritance, in the time of Moses. It was the law! The Hebrew custom. And they were probably not the only ones who the law didn’t favour. But they didn’t accept it. They were grieved by this law, and they approached Moses, and asked for what they wanted, what they deserved and believed was fair. And Moses went to God about the matter. This is what God said:

“The daughters of Zelophehad speak right: thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’s brethren; and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them. And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a man die, and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter…” (Numbers 27:7-8).

You can read Numbers 27: 1-11 for the full account. But can you see what happened there? By speaking up, they did not simply make things better for themselves, but changed the law concerning women and inheritance, thereby helping others who were suffering silently.

By writing this story I just completed, The Naive Wife, I was asking God several questions. And by the end of it, He gave me answers.

Bless God!

And I know the lessons will help many other women who are going through a similar experience to my main character, Rachel. I also believe the story will enlighten many women and men looking to get married and give them the wisdom they need to make the right decisions.

So, asking God doesn’t have to be a selfish endeavour.

Asking God is you exercising your privileged relationship with Him to gain wisdom, to grow in understanding so that you can be that much more like Him – wise, loving, and gracious.

Do not be afraid to ask for what you really want. Ask for wisdom too. Everything you need is at the feet of Jesus, but it’s sad that, for many of us, we don’t have the knowledge or the liberty or the thing we desire, because we never asked… (James 4:2).

“If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water…” (John 4:10).

I hope you understand better why it is important for your relationship with God that you learn to ask…and for what you want too. God is gracious enough to listen, even if He may have other plans for you. Ask. He might just reveal them.

PS: God gave me a dream last night which shed more light on this issue.  I wrote about it on my feed HERE.

God bless you.

To get THE NAIVE WIFE TRILOGY, go to https://msha.ke/ufuomaee

 

About the Author:

Hi, I am Ufuomaee. I am a writer, blogger, and Christian fiction author. I tell stories to help young people make the right choice before marriage and deal with challenges that often arise during and after. I also use parables and poetry to teach about God’s love.

When I’m not writing or working I love to watch action movies and romcoms on Netflix. I also love reading romcoms and inspiring books by other amazing authors, which I review on my blog.