“What do you want me to do for you?”
Today’s reading (daily Bible guide) is worth reflecting on. When the blind beggar Bartimaeus, came to Jesus, He asked, “What do you want me to do for you?” to which he readily answered, “Master, I want to see.” And so he received his sight.
Some people would say when invited or reminded to pray, why do I have to pray, God knows all my needs, He knows everything. And they take for granted that the solution to a problem will come to them, then maybe blame Him when it doesn’t. But wait, why did Jesus ask the blind man what he wanted when He obviously saw his deficiency, and knew he wanted to be healed?
These are food for thought for us to ponder, the reasons why He did so:
1. Jesus wants us to experience the power of the spoken word; He wants us to speak out (also write! Yes, write down!) our prayer requests.
2. Jesus wants us to practice humility; we are being humbled when we ask for our needs.
3. Jesus would like us to articulate it when we seek Him, to remind us that we need God and that on our own we are nothing
4. Jesus wants us to be specific in our prayers for it is only for the things that we allow God to have control over them, where He can do His will, where He can help us
This fourth one: I’m sure Bartimaeus was also hungry, he needed clothes, and maybe shelter, but he was specific in what he wanted at that moment, and so that was what he got. He had to ask for the other things before God would do something about it.
The Lord has given us free will, and He respects this, only when we pray to Him about a particular problem or need will He be able to come into a particular area of our life. This is why we should be specific in our prayers. If we want God to control our life, then this is what we pray, but we should see to it that we are within His grace (not leading a life of sin), so we can hear His whispers of guidance into our hearts, so He can shape the circumstances of our daily living. But do we have enough faith to believe He really does? We can pray for this.
Do you have more reasons to add? Or just any comment? Come share, feel free to interact. We can learn from each other.
Filed under: Bible sharing, Gospel sharing, reflections
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