Ask and Believe: Part 1–The Desires of God’s Heart

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came near to him, saying, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we will ask.” Mark 10:35 WEB

James and John have historically gotten a bad rap for this quote. It sounds like they’re just boldly strolling up to Jesus and saying, “give us whatever we want.” When you consider that what they ask for next is to sit at the places of honor, at Jesus’ left and right hand, when He comes into His kingdom. . .well, that doesn’t do much to help this misunderstanding either.

The Greek word rendered “ask” in most English translations is aiteo. This does not signify asking as an equal or with a sense of entitlement.  This word shows humility and respect. They are making a request of someone who is clearly above them yet has given them permission to ask.

As bold as this question was, it definitely displays a comfort level that James and John have with Jesus by this point (even if their mother did put them up to it). They know Jesus well enough to know that He would not mind them asking for a favor, yet they ask with the reverence and respect that their master is due.

So, what kind of a relationship do we need to have with God to ask Him for a favor? The one we already have, if we have put our trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

 

You see, you have not received a spirit that returns you to slavery, so you have nothing to fear. The Spirit you have received adopts you and welcomes you into God’s own family. That’s why we call out to Him, “Abba! Father!” as we would address a loving daddy. (Romans 8:15 VOICE)

Paul is the only writer in the Bible to use the Greek word hyiothesia for this concept of adoption. God chooses to give us the rightful position of sons and heirs, though we do not come by this position naturally.

Because God has drawn us this near to Him, we are indeed in a position to ask Him for whatever we want.

 

Ask, and you will be given what you ask for. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened. (Matt 7:7 TLB)

Sometimes, that seems too good to be true. God really gives us anything we ask for?

If that were the case, then it would be all too easy for us to make selfish requests of Him. Just as James and John asked to sit at Jesus’ left and right hand, it seems logical that being able to tap into the greatest power source in the universe could make us a tad greedy and ambitious.

So, why does Jesus tell us to ask then?

If you think about it, when do we ask anyone for anything? It’s when the one we are asking either has or can get something we want but don’t have. When Jesus tells us to ask, He is simply giving us permission to do so.

Along with asking, Jesus tells us to seek. He tells us this to let us know that God not only can be found, but He WANTS to be found.

For this reason, Jesus also tells us to knock, not just once, but persistently and insistently. Jesus is giving us carte blanche to be a pest in seeking out God and petitioning Him with our requests.

He is telling us that we aren’t going to wear God out or bore Him to death by bothering Him with our concerns. This is because God wants us to see Him as someone that we can approach.

But really. . .ANYTHING we ask for?

The context indicates that it isn’t so much the substance of our entreaties to the Lord as our motivation for asking that is more significant.

Remember, we are not God’s spoiled brats, but His adopted children. He chose us for His family, but we also had to choose Him as our Father.

The very nature of the relationship that Christians have with God is one of complete submission. We ask of Him because He has not only the power and authority but also the WILL to give us what we ask.

However, the more we are in submission to God, the less likely we are to ask for something selfishly. If our primary motivation is to please Him, then we would be more likely to ask for the kinds of things that He would want us to have.

The Desires of Our Hearts

This is one of the more misunderstood passages in the Bible. It’s easy to see why. Who doesn’t want to get the desires of his or her heart? Who has ever watched an Aladdin movie   without wondering what it would be like to be able to rub a magic lamp and have a genie pop out to grant your wishes?

Unfortunately, many people have looked at that verse above, keyed in on that last part, and then transformed God in their minds to little more than a genie in a lamp.

If you’ll notice though, this verse is a conditional statement. To get the desires of our hearts, we must first “take delight in the Lord.” So maybe we should be focusing more on what that means instead of our own selfish desires?

To “take delight” obviously means, “to enjoy.” But what is it we should be enjoying exactly?

It is the relationship that we have with God as our Father.

In this life, we may have great memories of time spent with our dads. Dad can be our fishing buddy, our baseball coach, our source of worldly wisdom, etc. Many people, of course, have never been able to have a relationship like this with their fathers, but many of those wish that they had.

The relationship with our heavenly Father is different though. He is Abba, but He is also Adonai, which means, “Lord.” As Lord, we serve Him, but as Daddy, we serve Him out of grateful love, not just reverent fear.

When we realize that our service to God is not to avoid punishment but to please our Daddy, then the service itself becomes a joy. God isn’t looking for slaves to command. He wants His kids to look up to Him as if to say, “Did I do a good job, Daddy?”

To be able to hear God answer in the affirmative, we would of course have to have done what He wanted us to do. And to have doing God’s work be a delight instead of a chore, we would first have to WANT what He wants.

Looking at it this way, we begin to see that “the desires of our hearts” have little to do with our desires, but more to do with our hearts.

When we trust Jesus to be the Lord of our lives, He begins a transformation process inside us, gradually conforming us to His image. As we change, our hearts change to become more like His. As we see things increasingly from His perspective, we begin to want what He wants—for ourselves, for others and for the world.

Once we get to this place, it is much easier to discern what God’s will is. THEN, when we pray, knowing that our will is in agreement with His, He gives us what we ask for, because it was what He wanted for us in the first place.

And yet, sometimes things STILL don’t go the way we expected.   So, what does that mean?

One of the pitfalls of the Christian life is how easy it is to backslide from “highly favored child of God” to “spoiled brat. ”

We have seasons of life where everything is going our way, and we give God the glory for that. But then life throws us a curve ball, and the whining starts.

“Why isn’t God answering my prayer? He said He’d give me anything I ask for. Haven’t I been ‘doing it right’?”

The truth is that God does answer prayer, but not always in the way that we expect.

Sometimes we get excited and run up ahead when He needs us to hold back and notice something He wants to show us. Sometimes selfishness creeps in and the “desires of our hearts” become more like the cravings of our appetites. And sometimes, we simply don’t recognize the answer for what it is when it comes.

God is not a vending machine or an ATM. We exist to serve Him, not the other way around. For this reason, the point of prayer isn’t primarily to address our own needs. Jesus explained it this way:

 Don’t worry and say, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ The people who don’t know God keep trying to get these things, and your Father in heaven knows you need them. Seek first God’s kingdom and what God wants. Then all your other needs will be met as well. (Matthew 6:31-33 NCV)

 

Prayer is your Out box. When you put something in your Out box at work, do you pull it back and put it in your In box again? No, you put it in the Out box because you have finished with it.

Whatever it is that you are praying for, God has a plan for it. It may not be the plan you would have scripted for yourself but think for a minute. Who’s smarter, you or God? Don’t you think it might be possible that Father knows best?

There’s more to it than that though. Logic alone will tell you that God is bigger, more powerful, and more able to meet your needs. The question is, “Do you TRUST Him to do that?”  Do you believe that He not only knows what’s best for you, but that He WANTS what’s best for you?

How you answer that question will determine how you respond to His answers. If you really believe that God’s way will lead to a better result than anything you could have come up with, then it becomes a lot easier to roll with the changes when they do come.

(But what happens if we don’t believe this? Come back for Part 2 to find out. If you click on the Free Newsletter link, you’ll be the first to know when it’s available.)