CHAPTER 19: PRAYING FOR WHAT YOU ALREADY HAVE 2025
What do you already have? Salvation. What do you have that the world does not have? The world refuses to believe in Christ.
“And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment. The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me.”
—John 16:8–9 NLT
Before we even get started, that’s what you have that the world does not have. You Believe. Okay, what else do I have. I’m alive, right? You’re alive, right? Grateful, for sure. I have another day to give it another shot, right? That doesn’t make it easy to be happy, life is very challenging. It’s hard to be happy sometimes, especially when all things are challenging. I have found that many times, it is the enemy that stands against me and at other times God is teaching me, preparing me. Sometimes to prevail over what is in the present, and other times to be ready for the next move, either way, it’s a challenge, yes. But His eye is upon me and you and praying for what I already have, is the lesson, it is important.
Philippians 4:11-13 Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. 12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.
A man once told me, “I’m okay with what I have today and I’m grateful — as long as I know I’m going to get more later.” His life is full of trouble, even to this day, all the time, never ending.
1 Timothy 6:6-10 And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.
Greatness is not all it’s cracked up to be and if you believe scripture, in the end, worldly greatness, fades to nothing and in the end, is truly the enemy’s folly.
Matthew 16:26-27 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
1 Thessalonians 5:18 reads, “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus.” James 1:17 teaches that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.” 1 Timothy 4:4 says, “For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving.” Praying for what I have, did not mean praying for more, it meant praying to God for the wisdom to use what I already have to bring glory and honor to Christ and His kingdom. That points me to what I call the treasure chest. Ah, one of my favorite concepts. The Treasure Chest.
A “TREASURE CHEST” filled with God’s gifts for me. In it I find my talents and the people, places and things God has given me to use. Everything I own, He gave me. Everyone in my life, He brought me to. Every talent I possess He gave me. My job is to ask how to use each one to bring glory and honor to Kingdom work, i.e., to God. You notice I didn’t say, it is important to ask God to give me what I want. Important lesson for me. I ask Him that I do His will and that He give me the power to walk through the challenge of doing His will, listening for His purpose and waiting for His direction. This brings me to my shortcomings. I’ve learned that I can’t change my shortcomings. Really important lesson. I can’t change them, but I can learn to walk around them. I’m always going to like whiskey, that doesn’t mean I should ever drink it. I’m always going to want to shoot my mouth off, doesn’t mean I should. I’m always going to want my way, do I need to complete that sentence?
I can’t do it without God, so “me and God, we have an understanding,” as quoted by the Blue’s Brother’s character Jake, played by John Belushi. We have an understanding that He will keep me in good order, so I can complete the mission, but I must respect the mission, be grateful for the mission and the commission. What is the commission? To share the Word of God, bring hope to the hopeless and honor the message of Christ. I can’t do that if I don’t know what it is. What is the mission and the commission of God in scripture? I find it all over the place but this one sums it up for me.
2 Corinthians 10:5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Take every thought captive. That means no matter how much I study I’m still going to have scary and ungodly thoughts. The enemy will fill my head with doubt no matter how much my dedication to Christ. Take those thoughts to God and lay them at His feet, every time, anytime, all the time. I am flawed. I get it. God gets it. There are short comings that are mine, temptations that are mine. Hard to pray thank you for my flaws, but Paul found a way to explain it.
2 Corinthians 12:7-9 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from 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 about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
Again, praying for what I already have, even my shortcomings bring me closer to God, so I give thanks for even my temperament and the challenges that temperament causes and the teaching God gives me from it.
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
Pray, my friends, that your mind is guided by the Holy Spirit, nothing else, nobody else, substituting absolutely nothing, pray for pure Holy Spirit in all matters and give thanks for the challenge and the learning to be received. Pray that you have another moment to understand what is being said here today. Another moment to shut off your stupid thinking and find the one true God in all that you have. Notice I didn’t say all that you have “left.” All that you have, is all that you need. God doesn’t punish people because He doesn’t like them. He teaches them because He love them. If I am standing in the rain, with an umbrella, and I step out from under the umbrella, whose fault is it that I get wet? You see I have an umbrella, thank you, Jesus. What else do I truly need at the moment? Kids, when I get like this thing, where I deserve what I know I can do, I’m in trouble. I’m not giving thanks for what I have, I’m asking for more because I deserve it. Very, very dangerous territory, and it’s filled with resentment and anger. Let God be God with what He’s given to you. Let Him use it as He sees fit and drop the heavy load of “what you gotta have.”
Proverbs 4:6-7 Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you;
love her, and she will watch over you.
7 The beginning of wisdom is this: Get[a] wisdom.
Though it cost all you have,[b] get understanding.
Pray, I do, and ask Him to teach me the tools in my treasure chest so that I may use them when He calls. Why would I pray for anything else? Because I’m flawed, afraid and weak and without giving thanks in prayer, I will forget that I’m breathing and that breathing is a tremendous gift. I will forget to align myself with scripture, promises, prophecies, rules and direction given by God and the gifts of the Spirit. What is my greatest gift of the Spirit? The knowledge that the Spirit is moving in my life, teaching me, helping me and moving me along Sanctification.
What is Sanctification? To remove Everything that is of me and not God.
He has promised, if I yearn to hold myself together, in God and away from the world, in prayer, and commit to the withstanding of the arrows that fly against me because of Him, He will help. What do I mean? To overcome! To give up what I want and walk with Him is impossible, but I must and I can only do that with Him. Why?
1 Thessalonians 4:15-16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
Revelation 3:8-11Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.
What would I say to the world that wants everything for free, to take the freedom from those who have it, to subject the good to bad and give bad, the honor and glory?
1 Peter 3:11 They must turn from evil and do good;
they must seek peace and pursue it.
Chapter 19: Praying for what you already have. Best you understand that everything you have could be taken away from you in a heart beat. It’s not what I have left or what I deserve, it’s what I have been given to use and prepare for the work God has planned. Not to question? Of course question. Take the questions to Him. Take the upset and the confounding problems to Him. This is perhaps God’s training ground to prepare you for His will and his challenge, for a You or a Me that we don’t entirely know, as of yet. This moment, this very second is worth the path that brought me here, and from here I have a choice to do God’s will with what I have, while I have it and to that I be grateful. Yes, absolutely. Not an easy task, I get it.
Pray and ask to be better is His way, a way that was written of you before time itself. An original blueprint God has made for each one of us. Fighting it, is to no good end.
“Show me Jesus, help me, direct me.”
James 1:12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
Is that better than what I want right now? Truly, I know from scripture, if I get what I want, I’m not sure it came from God, rather getting what I need, against my own selfish will, there is where Grace abounds. Whatever is happening, good or challenging, give it to God, listen for the lesson, give up horrible thinking, that this is punishment and victimhood.
Pray thanks you can walk, talk and God can work with you. I close with this. I remember my dad, as He lay in a bed, elderly and forgotten to the world. He would have traded places with any of us, on our worst days, he would’ve traded his life and any worldly possession to have just one more moment “in the game” where you and I are, right now. How many more seconds do you have in your life, in the game. How many more minutes, if any, do we have to praise God, before we face Him? Think about it.
Jeremiah 45:5, which says, “You seek great things for yourself, but don’t bother. I’m bringing disaster on all humanity, declares the Lord, but wherever you go I will let you escape with your life”. The original scripture, found in Jeremiah 45:5, warns Baruch the scribe against seeking personal greatness, as God was about to bring judgment upon the world. Think about that, look at the world, perhaps it will give a fresh look at the very breath of life, each breath, each moment, the gift of struggling and the ability to navigate personal, physical strength. Choose, with what you have, to Honor God.
Chapter 19, Praying for What You Already Have. And be grateful for what God has taken out of life or held back, for the betterment of me and you. Salvation, Sanctification, tough assignment, a Glorious assignment. Amen.
