What Do You Want Me to Do for You? - May 2, 2021

Imagine if a rich or powerful person came to you and said, “What do you want me to do for you?” How long would it take you to come up with a response? Now imagine that it was God Almighty asking you the question. Would that change your response?

On two occasions, Jesus asked people, “What do you want me to do for you?” Why would Jesus ask a blind man what he wanted him to do? Isn’t it obvious? But the Bible makes it clear that God wants us to present our requests to him. This helps us to develop a positive relationship with God as our heavenly Father, and it provides opportunities for us to recognize our dependence on God. In the passage from 1 Kings that we read, God implicitly asked this question of Solomon, though it was formulated as a request rather than a question.

Most of us are familiar with passages like John 14:12-14, John 15:7, and 1 John 3:21-22 which tell us that we can ask God for anything and he will give it to us. But many people fail to realize that these great promises are given in a context. The context of each of these promises makes it clear that there are conditions that have to be met in order for us to get what we ask of God. And to meet those conditions, we must allow God to transform our lives, which will also transform what we ask God to do for us. For example, James and John asked with selfish motives, and they did not get what they asked of Jesus.

So what does God want us to learn from these passages?

Here are the Bible passages that were used in the preparation of this message:
Numbers 11:18-33
Deuteronomy 3:23-26
1 Samuel 8:1-21
1 Kings 3:5-15
Mark 10:35-52
John 13:1-17; 14:12-14; 15:7
James 4:1-3
1 John 3:21-22

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