Are We Asking For The Changes That Are Really Necessary?
Psalm 51:1-15 Amplified Bible (AMP)
1HAVE MERCY upon me, O God, according to Your steadfast love; according to the multitude of Your tender mercy and loving-kindness blot out my transgressions. 2Wash me thoroughly [and repeatedly] from my iniquity and guilt and cleanse me and make me wholly pure from my sin! 3For I am conscious of my transgressions and I acknowledge them; my sin is ever before me. 4Against You, You only, have I sinned and done that which is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified in Your sentence and faultless in Your judgment. 5Behold, I was brought forth in [a state of] iniquity; my mother was sinful who conceived me [and I too am sinful]. 6Behold, You desire truth in the inner being; make me therefore to know wisdom in my inmost heart. 7Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean [ceremonially]; wash me, and I shall [in reality] be whiter than snow. 8Make me to hear joy and gladness and be satisfied; let the bones which You have broken rejoice. 9Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my guilt and iniquities. 10Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering, and steadfast spirit within me. 11Cast me not away from Your presence and take not Your Holy Spirit from me.12Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit. 13Then will I teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted and return to You. 14Deliver me from bloodguiltiness and death, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness (Your rightness and Your justice). 15O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
Recently as I prayed I could hear, are you really asking for what you need? I fell silent for a moment as I began to assess my prayers. In that moment the conviction of my heart had caused me to evaluate what I was praying for. As I took inventory, I felt a strong urge to pray not for what I perceived as external needs, but what I felt were internal needs. Matters of the heart, things that I needed to do better and be better in. Things I had let fester in my heart, and things that I had let God touch, but not totally heal or deliver. I had to come to grips in those moments and others like them, that, to pray for monetary things, or aesthetic things is well within our privilege as a Christian and God is okay with that, BUT His main concern was, is and always will be my soul, just as it is yours.
The Bible says in Matthew 16:26 “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life [his blessed life in the kingdom of God]? Or what would a man give as an exchange for his [blessed] life [in the kingdom of God]?” I am often placed in a posture to reflect, on this scripture, because it causes me to ask some hard questions of myself. Am I in a right place to receive the blessings of God and steward them well? When God blesses my life with people am I stewarding them, well? Are people that are in my life in a place where they are not committing love abuse on me? Are the matters of my heart in order and are they in an acceptable place before God? Have I allowed God to heal me, and change my thinking so I can handle what He may want to give me? Am I stewarding what has already been given to me, in a manner that God is pleased with? Is my thinking about myself and others right, or is my default negative? You see we are like anything that is motorized, if the engine or the internal specs are out of whack, the car on the outside can look just as beautiful and eloquent as a car can be, but it won’t run or it won’t run right. Have you ever seen a high end car, and it is blowing our black smoke as it goes down the highway, that is us when God blesses us with stuff and we have not taken the time to let Him deal with the inside of us. If we neglect to do the internal corrections first all that we get will only make us worse, because what is already rooted in us will become more pronounced, and more prominent.
If a worm resides on the inside of an apple and it has begun to rot and eat the apple out, no matter how good it may look, eventual what is on the inside will make its way to the surface and show itself. We have so much that we want God to do, and we go to Him, crying out asking Him to change our finances, our house, our job, fix our status (married or single), even pay someone back, but rarely do we ask Him to run a diagnostic on us. Rarely do we ask Him to perform necessary surgeries on us, to cut out what is inside that is causing us to be eaten from the inside out, or maybe causing us to rot or corrode. One of the things I try hard to live by is first things first, there is an order to things, yes I want to be blessed and live a life of abundance, but I have come to know I want God more, and to be right in His eyes, so I will not compromise His standards or the level of integrity or obedience to obtain it. So the question becomes as you are approaching God are you REALLY praying for what you need, and the changes that are needed, or are you petitioning God for things you want, but perceive as needs?
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