This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 1 John 5:14 (NIV)

Lives Yielded

I can’t tell you how many times I have literally put this verse to the test. I’ve approached God confidently, presented an incredible and tight case of how my requests fit within his ‘will’ for my life, and then waited for his verdict – granted or denied.

When I was 8, it was for a ‘Little Miss Makeup’ doll. I’d heard in Sunday School that if I ask anything in God’s name, had faith enough that if would be done, it would be. The case presented, arguments put forth, request denied. I got a Barbie, not a little miss makeup doll.

When I was 13, it was for the school bully, who harassed me relentlessly, to find himself mute or underneath a fallen piano (either would have been fine by me – I gave God options!). But nothing happened, and the bully continued on.

When I was 18, it was for the dark cloud of depression that had slowly settled in my heart to be removed. I promised him everything, EVERYTHING, if he would just take away this ’thorn in my side,’ this darkness that so threatened by joy and the way I saw the world…

But the depression stayed. And I battled it long and hard and still do from time to time. Although now I know how (which is a devotion for another time…).

When figuring out faith, all these scenarios contributed to form what I believed. And I ended being fairly confused about the whole situation. I thought God answered prayers? I thought God wanted me to be healed? To be whole? Was my faith bad? Was I not confident enough? Was I not worthy?

The issue is the confusion around what the “will of God” is. We focus way too much on the geographical and material elements of it. Our prayers are full of “give me this, take away that, lead me here, where to now, what do you want me to DO?”

These prayers are real and heartfelt – I get it – I’ve prayed them a thousand times over, and a thousand times over it seems they go unanswered.

A few thoughts: It is his will that we have hope (Jer 29:11); It’s his will that we overcome (Romans 8:37); that we experience his unexplainable peace (Phil 4:7); that the fruit of the spirit becomes the fruit of our lives (Gal 5:22); That we learn to love and see and hear. And that we learn that we are loved and seen and heard.

God is not a person. Because we are human, we imagine him in human form, sitting on his throne, arms outstretched, eyes open, heart beating… but God is more than human. He is divine, infinite, all present, everywhere, he is an ear, he is an eye, he is a heart… he is the ocean and the wind and the sun and the stars. He is supernatural and lives beyond the realm of the material. Transcendent and eternal.

When we limit our prayers and desires to the material, we are limiting our perception of what God can and wants to do in our lives. We limit his will. Imagine if we lived and prayed like God’s will for us has more to do with WHO we become, not WHAT we become? The unseen and spiritual. After all, it’s from the heart that our lives are built.

God hears us all – our every word and prayer. And he longs for us to see him more and more as he is. The divine who is peace in storms, strength in weakness, wisdom in foolishness, hope in hopelessness, purpose in rejection, forgiveness in repentance, restoration in brokenness, life in death…

Seek God to fashion you in the midst of your season, not to remove the season of fashioning. Open your eyes to see what his will really is and how beauty can come from the most unexpected places. Pray, “not my will but yours be done…”

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