The Revelation of Jesus with Rick Sterling

Your Will? ~

One of my wife's favorite sayings/prayers is, "Dear Lord, please give me patience; and give it to me RIGHT NOW!" As humorous as this is, there is truth in the idea that we often ask for something from God that we think will be to our benefit, and benefit the Kingdom of God, and then put conditions on the timing of God's response. We pray as if our prayer is something that God must do, because our need is great, and disaster is imminent should God fail to give us what we need at the moment of the asking.

The classic 1947 Christmas movie "The Bishops Wife" starring David Niven (Henry, the Bishop), Cary Grant (Dudley, the Angel), and Lorretta Young (Julia, the Bishops Wife), relates a story of a pastor that asks God for guidance in the building of a new Cathedral, and is visited immediately by Dudley, who claims to be an angel sent from God at Henry's (the Bishop) request. Dudley ingratiates himself into the household as Henry's assistant, and Julia, and the whole household is drawn to this kind hearted assistant, all except for Henry, who believes this 'angel' is from hell not heaven. Later Henry prays for God to call back his angel when it become clear that the Cathedral is not the top priority in Henry's life, Julia is. Dudley reminds Henry that he didn't pray for a Cahtedral, he prayed for guidance, and recieved it. (This is a 'must watch'.)

When we pray for what we think want we often don't see the future ramifications for what we are asking. I call this the 'my will' syndrome. God knows everything that we need to be joyful, productive and effective in life, before we ask for it. Patience is given when we ask for our hearts desires, knowing that God knows what is best for us and our situation, and then end our request with "Your will be Done"! This puts the responsibility for the outcome on God, not on us, giving us peace!