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All of us know what it's like
to go round in circles. To pray our way through one financial disaster
only to be met by another. To receive healing for one illness just in
time to be knocked off our feet by the next.
Oh, we try. We pray.
We exercise our faith. But we keep getting caught in the same old
problems over and over again. Why? Because all too often, we don't
actually know what it is we need to be praying for.
I can almost hear your reaction. "Believe me, Brother Copeland, that's not my problem. I know what I need. It's getting that need met that's got me running in circles."
That's what most other folks think too. So they spend all their time working on getting.
They waste their energy praying for things they don't really need and
asking for things they don't really want. Then they wind up going
nowhere fast.
Look with me at Mark 10, and I think you'll see what
I mean. Blind Bartimaeus sat by the roadside begging when Jesus passed
by. "And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry
out, and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.... And he,
casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered
and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind
man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said
unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he
received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way" (verses 47, 50-52).
Now
I want you to think about something for a moment. In the light of what
the Scriptures tell us, how many needs did Bartimaeus have? Did he have
just one? No! He wasn't simply a blind man, he was a beggar. He probably
had more problems than you could shake a stick at, and all those
problems would have seemed like legitimate needs to Bartimaeus. But it
was sight he needed. If he could obtain his sight, all the rest would fall into line.
He knew that. So, when Jesus said, "Bartimaeus, what do you want Me to do for you?" he knew exactly what to ask for and he got it.
Jesus
is just as available to you today as He was to Bartimaeus. He's just as
willing to meet your need. The question is, do you really know what to
ask for?
Think about that. Pray about it. Let the Lord Jesus open
your eyes and show you what you really need. If you do that, your
prayers will take on a whole new power. Instead of hitting around at the
edges of your problems, they'll go straight to the heart—and solve
them. And you won't have to waste your life running in circles anymore.
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