“Lord, Open My Eyes”
Have you ever had a season of life where you felt like God wasn’t hearing your prayers? I can remember one season when my wife and I were praying for wisdom and discernment related to a large decision we had to make. As time went on, I remember feeling more and more overwhelmed because I didn’t feel like I was receiving any direction from God during that time. God felt silent. This led me to begin questioning God’s presence in the situation.
What I felt couldn’t have been further from the truth. Scripture teaches us that even when we don’t feel like God hears us, He’s listening.
1 John 5:14–15
“14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.”
The ECNT Commentary says “John’s point is to affirm that we know God hears when we request, not that we have unerring discernment as to what we should be requesting.” This assurance of personal communion with God is also the context in which seemingly unanswered prayer requests should be understood.”1
Verse 14 gives us confidence that God hears our prayers, even in times like the one I described above.
David Guzik goes on to say that these verses tell us that “God would have us ask anything… and that he would have us ask according to His will.”2
I love this statement because it helps us see that we can ask for whatever we want. However, there is something greater than what we want, and that is God’s will.
I think of this in terms of a child asking a parent for something. A child can ask for cake for breakfast, but that request likely doesn’t align with the parent’s will. The request was heard; it just wasn’t in line with the parent’s will for the child.
The Big Idea for this Sunday’s sermon is: “Prayer doesn’t always change the situation; sometimes prayer changes the way we see the situation.”
What If there are times when our greatest need is not for God to operate on our terms, but for God to change us through these situations?
Matthew 7:7–12 gives us a model of persistent prayer.
“7 ‘Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!’”
I wrote a little more about this in a previous devotional, but What If, through the practice of continually bringing all our requests to God, we walk away not receiving everything we wanted, but instead having our perspective changed or our lives transformed?
Let’s look at two examples of how prayer can change our perspective or change us.
1. Prayer Changes Our Priorities
Our key verse for this series is Luke 11:1b: “Lord, teach us to pray.” Jesus responds to that request with what is commonly referred to as the Lord’s Prayer. Matthew also includes the Lord’s Prayer, and when you look at the prayer Jesus taught His disciples, there is a lot of purpose to prayer before we ever ask for a single thing.
Matthew 6:9–10
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.”
Before we ever ask for anything, we are told that some of the most important things we can do are to glorify God’s name and seek His Kingdom and His will.
Tim Keller says: “Before you ask for anything, you need to put your heart like metal into a fire of his will until it becomes soft.”
Elmer Towns says: “When you pray ‘Thy Kingdom Come,’ first you are inviting God to rule in your heart by his principles.”3
These statements by Jesus remind us that our top priority in prayer isn’t to get what we want, but to glorify God and seek His will.
Approaching life—even our hardships—with the priority of ‘Your kingdom come, Your will be done’ takes the focus off ourselves and puts it where it belongs: on God.
2. Prayer Changes Our Perspective
Paul was grieved by the thorn in his side. We do not know what the ‘thorn’ was. However, in this passage, we see how, through prayer, his perspective shifted even though his circumstances didn’t change.
2 Corinthians 12:7–10
“7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Paul indicates that he asked for whatever this “thorn” was to be removed. That was his prayer. But through prayer, his perspective changed. Instead of continuing to ask for the “thorn” to be removed, he learned to boast in the power of Christ.
Looking back over difficult times in my life, I can say that sometimes not getting the answer I wanted has changed me because those experiences have caused me to rely more on God.
What If God wanted to teach us something through these times that would help us live fuller, more devoted lives to Him and His purposes?
This Sunday, Pastor Chuck will touch on how prayer:
- Helps us see beyond our problems.
- Opens our eyes to God’s presence.
- Replaces fear with confidence in God.
Perhaps you noticed the repeated use of the phrase “What If” in this devotional. While I won’t deny that it could be due to poor writing, it was, in fact, intentional.
I’m not for a second going to pretend that I can comprehend the mind of God. Why He does what He does and how He does it are not mine to debate. However, I wanted to prompt us to think beyond our default setting of wanting to get what we want and consider that there may be possibilities in our situations that we haven’t even considered.
What If God simply gave us what we asked for, and we missed out on opportunities to develop the very traits that deepen our relationship with Him and keep us from experiencing the abundant life found when we walk step by step with our Lord?
As you encounter difficulties this week, whether small or large, absolutely take your requests to God. He wants us to bring these things to Him. However, also consider adding, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done,” to your prayers, and ask God to show you how He might want to use these circumstances to shape your priorities or change your perspective in ways that honor and glorify Him.
Adam
- Karen H. Jobes, 1, 2, and 3 John (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014), [231] ↩︎
- David Guzik, “1 John 5,” Enduring Word, Blue Letter Bible, https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/guzik_david/study-guide/1-john/1-john-5.cfm?a=1164014 ↩︎
- Elmer L. Towns, Praying the Lord’s Prayer for Spiritual Breakthrough (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1997), [77] ↩︎