Now I Will Praise the Lord

1 John 5:14 – This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

What is it that you have repeatedly asked for from God through prayer, but have still not seen that prayer answered? And, why is this thing so important to you?

I think the WHY we want what we want can help us navigate the “if we ask anything according to His will” part, because to me, that is the hardest part.

If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.  He hears our cries. He knows.

What does it mean in this verse when it says “if we ask anything according to His will?”

For me –it means being willing to be okay with whatever answer God gives us, even if it isn’t what we asked for, because we trust His will.  It means yielding my plan and saying God – please - help me be okay with your will.  I ask that your will be done, and I ask that you help me be okay with it – to want it.

See – most of us don’t really want any other answer than what we ask for. We want to tell God what we need and get that very thing. BUT – God has a better view of your life – He can see all of it – and He has a plan for it. And we are not privy to that whole view. We just have this moment, and our past experiences. 

How do we get to a point that we trust God’s will over our own?

John 15:7 says that if you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 

So – the closer we draw to God, the more we pray, the more we study His word, the more we become like Jesus, and thus, our wills become more aligned. We become more okay with whatever God has for us. No matter what.

That is what allowed Paul to say – to live is Christ, but to die is gain – Phillippians 1:21 – because the closer we draw to God – the more we are okay with being with Him – even in death. The closer we draw to God, the less this world has to offer us. We get more homesick for our true eternal home.

Our Bible study group has been studying Genesis 29, the story of Rachel and Leah, two sisters who were both married to Jacob. Jacob loved Rachel and worked for her father for 14 years for the chance to marry her. He married Leah because he was deceived, and kind of got stuck with her.

Leah spent years trying to win the love of Jacob. After each of her first 3 sons, she stated that MAYBE Jacob will love me now. But Jacob loved Rachel.  After her fourth son, she finally conceded and surrendered her will to God, and said that THIS TIME, I will praise the Lord. This time. Now. NOW I’m going to praise God even though I did not get what I wanted.  

Sometimes we need to get to a place where we say, “Lord, I want your will, even it if means giving up my will.”  Sometimes we need to say that we are okay, even if what we desire never happens, or even if that means being okay with the very opposite.  It may mean not being healed, not becoming a mother, not getting that beach body, not getting that home, etc.

EVEN IF is a hard place to be – but in the even if’s, we find peace. And when you tell God – Lord – even if – I trust your will – I believe you will receive the peace to accept whatever that something is that you are struggling with.  Even if your will is different than my will, I trust your will – and I want your will. 

Leah finally surrendered her need for Jacob’s love to God with THIS TIME, I will praise the Lord. NOW I will praise the Lord.

How many of you are struggling with some THING or uncertainty? What answer are you looking for? And what is the other answer, the one you don’t want?

That other answer may not be what you are wanting. What if that other thing happens anyway? What would it take for you to praise God with that answer? What do you need to surrender to God to help you accept what God has for you in its place? And TRUST whatever God’s answer is, no matter what that answer may be.

God wants us to reach a level of trust with Him of being able to surrender what we want and embrace what God wants for us.

Faith does not mean everything is going to be okay. Faith means trusting God that you will be okay even if everything doesn’t happen the way we want it.

What release would you experience if you could just surrender your worry and trust God with it – no matter what?

Pray for God to grow your faith. Pray for God to help you find His will, and to be okay with it, no matter what it is. Pray that God helps you be okay with not getting the very thing you have been praying for.