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When Your Request Is Wrong

"You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said to them. "Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?" "We can," they answered.
Matthew 20:22

One day James and John came to Jesus asking for the best seats in His kingdom. It was not just a good view they were after, they wanted the top spot. Jesus said, "You do not know what you are asking!" Later, when the folk in a certain village refused to welcome Jesus, His disciples asked: "Lord, do you want us to call fire down... and destroy them?" (Luke 9:54). Again Jesus rebuked them. Now, if Jesus' closest disciples could be so misguided in their requests, so can we. Fortunately God loves us too much to always say yes. Are you not glad? Would you trust a God who would do otherwise?

Perhaps the most famous wrong request is, 'Lord, please change him/her.' Anytime two of us have to get along together, one of us is likely to pray that way. But it is self-serving. A more genuine prayer would be, 'Lord, I do not want to face my own shortcomings or work on the relationship, or have to mature, so I am asking you to change him/her.' If that is your request, do not be surprised when God says no.

If you have been praying and getting nowhere, your request may be the problem! Maybe it is a cop-out on your part. Maybe it is destructive in ways you do not understand. Maybe it is self-serving, shortsighted and too small; God may have something better in mind. Whatever the reason, when your request is wrong, He turns it down. And as you become more mature, you will look back on some of your old prayer requests and thank God that He loved you enough to say 'no.'

Prayer
Heavenly Father, Change me before even listening to me ask for change in others. In Jesus' Name, Amen