“To be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.” (Col. 1:9) One of the main reasons that we are to be filled with the knowledge and will of God is so that when we pray we can pray effectually, so that we are not asking amiss. This knowledge lets us understand how it is that we can be obedient servants of Christ, for those who desire to worship Him must worship Him in Spirit. (John 4:24) The Words of His Truth, the Holy Bible, can only be discerned spiritually, (1 Cor. 2:14) and it is in the wisdom that can only come from Him that we are to apply them in our lives daily.
Our prayers are the way that we communicate with God, and since we are to pray without ceasing, (1 Thess. 5:17) for the believer who has daily confessed his sins (Prov. 28:13) and sometimes more often than that, this means that we are in constant communication with our Lord, if we have a right relationship with Him, He hears our prayers. (Psalm 116:1) If our prayers are in accordance with the will of God, (1 John 5:14) and we are to ask without wavering, (James 1:16) so then, I would ask this question, when are we presupposing on our Lord, and when are we to expect an answer? Jesus said that if we ask anything in His name, we are to believe we would receive our request, (1 John 5:15) and so in faith and according to our knowledge of the will of God, we ask, expecting to receive.
Of course, all of our requests should include if not in word but in thought, “Thy will be done,” but if we are expecting an answer, if we have prayed in accordance with His will without wavering, where is this fine line of “Thy will be done” and the receiving of that which we have asked for. How long should we make our request known to God with all prayers and supplications, (Phil. 4:6) how long should we keep knocking (Matt. 7:7) before we come to the conclusion that God is not going to answer our prayer, how are we to recognize when the answer is either “No” or “Wait.”
There have been times in my life when I have prayed for individuals that I have witnessed to, listening to and answering their questions about spiritual matters, and many of these have occurred over an extended period of time, only to watch them get choked out by the weeds, the things of the world, and after a period of time I have shaken the dust of my feet off from them. These have over the years of my service to Christ become somewhat easier, though no less heart wrenching, for few find the narrow gate, (Matt. 7:14) and it is never easy to spot the called ones, much less those who have been chosen. It is our Lord’s will that all should come to repentance, (2 Peter 3:9) but it is the wise servant that realizes not all will, and there are far too many who like to think everyone will someday spend eternity in heaven, when the Scriptures are quite clear, few are chosen, (Matt. 22:14) and the wrath that abides on those now who will not accept Christ as Lord (John 3:36) will continue for all eternity in the lake of fire, and that wrath will be shown to them without pity.
But what of those prayer requests that we make unto the Lord that do not concern another human being, those ones that are intended only for our own personal growth in the Lord. Not self-serving, asked amiss prayers, but those that we desire simply so that we will become better servants, better stewards of His Word, those that we ask only so that His name will be glorified above the heavens, what is the timeline, if you will, that we are to give Him before we can expect to receive an answer to those prayers. When we ask our Lord to give us a heart than can discern between good and evil as Solomon did, (1 Kings 3:9) we do not have to put a fleece out to double-check that this request from us is in the will of God, Gideon needed an answer, and he needed it now, the enemy was at the gate. (Judges 6:36-40) When we pray for something personal, something that we just want for ourselves with no conceit or self-serving interest, but for the sole purpose that the name of God would be exalted, we will always hear a resounding “Yes,” but it is in the timing of the Lord that we tend to begin to question, and sometimes we miss the small incremental changes that He is making in us, sometimes over a very long period of time.
Solomon got to wake up the next morning the wisest man who ever lived, and that wisdom from God increased exponentially within him up unto the point in his life that he began to fall, but not so with us. Our Lord remembers that we are but dust, (Psalm 103:14) and the “Thy will” part when we asked to be filled with the knowledge of His will, to be able to have a heart that can discern between good and evil, for wisdom, even to be conformed into the image of His Son comes with the answer, “Yes, but in my time.” Our Lord has promised all this and more to all of His obedient children who will but ask, but not overnight, patience is the key. We must be able to look back on who we were, not only before Christ, but since that day that we fell on our face at the foot of the cross and begged for His forgiveness.
I do not believe enough Christians do this on a regular enough basis, and so they miss the opportunities for even more growth, even more trust and faith, they pull up a chair on the path that they are on and either think about nothing but the rapture, or simply want to leave their mortal temple and go home. They do not see immediate results, and so they stop asking, and although they continue to serve, they serve only in the areas they are accustomed to serving in, doing only what they are supposed to do, and so should say of themselves “I am unprofitable.” (Luke 17:10) When you are prepared to pray those prayers stated above, prepare to be patient. You cannot take most people from a 1947 vehicle to a 2020 vehicle overnight, it is too much for them to handle, and our Lord is well aware of this, the grace you have been given is sufficient unto today, (2 Cor. 12:9) and these types of prayers will be answered little by little each day, and in a time of the Lords choosing, you will see in the mirror a wise, understanding, knowledgeable, strong, mature Christian, who knows he has a very long way to go yet.
One of the things that Christ gives to those who seek and receive wisdom and spiritual understanding is humility, the perfect knowledge that it is not of yourself that you have these attributes, that you have and continue to receive that which is none of your own making, and in turn the revelation of this knowledge will make this person to exalt the name of God above the heavens, (Psalm 57:5) which was the intended goal in the first place. You ask, you receive, the Lord is glorified, it’s an awesome plan, isn’t it?
I want to leave you today though with one warning, and it is a serious warning at that, it was given by a Sovereign God to the wisest man that ever lived, and he wrote it down for us and all that would ask in faith for these blessings. “For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.” (Eccl. 1:18) Your heart will ache for the lost, your righteous anger will flare up for those who profess the name of Christ but are far from Him, tears will be a part of your normal life, and you will experience a love and concern for everyone that crosses your path. But you will also learn to praise the Lord God who has given you these blessings, His Son will constantly be on your mind, you will come to understand that only those who are heavenly minded are of any earthly good. And you will learn that every time you pick up the Word of God to study it, you have a long, long way to go yet. Is it worth it? Ask yourself this, what is Christ not worth? No cost is too high for the One who gave everything for me.
