But God I Prayed for this...

As human beings, we each have something we desire to have. A goal of achieving a certain career, graduating school, or making an investment. We work had to achieve that goal, and think of any means necessary to accomplish it. As Christians, we go to God with our goals, and pray that God would fill the desires of our heart. But what happens when we finally accomplish that goal? When God blesses us with what we prayed for, do we thank God for the blessing and become content in our portion? Or do we become discontent, thinking that this must not be God's will for my life because things got difficult. Thus, our expectations are not met, and we begin to complain about what we prayed for.

 I believe that often, expectations are not met due to the lack of realizing what God has planned for our lives. We pray to God for certain things, but fail to ask Him if it's in His will. We know we want a certain blessing in our lives, but do we really know why we want the blessing. Do we want the blessing because we truly believe that it is God's best for our lives? Or is it simply because it's something we desire. I know I've been guilty of praying to God for something and then once God answers my prayers, I realized that this is not what I should have been praying for as I was not in line with God's will. We must realize that sometimes God will answer our prayers to either take us through difficult times so that we can grow, or to give us what we want so that we come to realize that we were not praying in God's will. 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).

 We must have the mindset of Jesus and begin to pray for the will of the Father. Even looking death right in the eyes, Jesus continued to pray in His Father's will; He (Jesus) went away a second time and prayed, "My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may Your will be done" (Matthew 26:42). Jesus wanted God's will to be done in His life. We should get better at asking for the Father's will. After Jesus prayed that prayer, and later hung on that rugged cross, you didn't hear Jesus complaining to God about His will, and that this isn't what He expected. We must learn to pray in the will of the Father and refuse to complain when God's will is done. What good spiritual shape we will be in when we learn to pray in the Father's will.

So, you ask how to do you pray in the Father's will. Well one way is waiting in expectation for God's voice. Psalm 5:3 states: “in the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.” When we come to God in prayer we must be willing to wait for His answers and what He has to say about it. We need to let our expectations become God's expectations. We become frustrated when our expectations are not met. That's because our expectations do not line up in God's will. Without the expectations of God, we look too high or too low. Leaving us frustrated and complaining about what we prayed for. We must get off of the throne, and put God first in our lives. We must recognize that waiting for God in expectation is the best thing we can do. “And if we know that he hears us whatever we ask we know that we have what we asked of Him” (1 John 5:15).

 
You may be thinking, “It’s easy for her to say to pray in God's will and wait in expectation, and to never complain.” Well I'm here to tell you that could not be any further from the truth. I too have a difficult time praying in God's will and waiting in expectation. I'm currently going through a difficult situation, as before my husband and I moved back to Wichita Kansas. I was in the process of looking for a job. I was experiencing all kind of changes.  I was new graduate as I had graduated with my Master’s Degree in Social Work, I was recently married, moving back to my home town, and feeling the pressure to find a job to help my husband financially. And on top of all that, I had to leave a job where I would be doing therapy in order to move back to our home town to take care of family. I felt lost and confused, but I knew moving was the right thing to do. Without praying to God, and waiting in expectation on Him, I searched for jobs. I knew I wanted to work in a school district, but I didn't get the social work job that I interviewed for. So, what I did is get anxious, applied for a job that I never had any business applying to, and I ended up accepting the position at this organization. After accepting the position, my initial excitement faded and I begin to have doubts. Now I realize that the feeling I was expiring was from God letting me know that this was not His will. I've been through some difficult times at this job as I still currently work there. It has been difficult. And I complain a lot, my husband can attest to that as he is a great support. But through it all I know that God is preparing me for my next move. God is teaching me to not complain about what I prayed for. He’s pruning me to learn from this situation. This is not an easy testimony to share. But I realize that my testimony is not for me, but to help others who may be experiencing what I'm going through. I know God will provide for my needs and give me strength. 1 Chronicles 16:11 states: “Look to the Lord and His strength; seek His face always.” Now I'm learning that God is my strength, in all situations I must seek His will, His face. For even when you don't know what to pray for, God understands our needs better than we do. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans” (Romans 8:26).

So I urge you, to truly learn how to pray in the will of God. To learn to wait in expectation of the Lord. And to not complain about what we prayed for. For complaining is not only a sin, but it is disrespectful to God. Complaining about what He has given to us. No matter what you’re going through; look to God and try to see the good in the situation. To see how you can grow and worship God rather than complain. It's a lesson that I'm still working on. So let's take the journey together. “For I can do all things through Him (Christ) who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).

 

With Love,

 

Courtney Neal