Spell It Out

“What do you want me to do for you?”

Matthew 20:32

More than a thousand years after the original Jericho miracle, another miracle happened in the same place. Jesus was on His way out of the city when two blind men shouted, “Lord, Son of David,^a have mercy on us!” The disciples saw it as an inconvenient interruption, but divine appointments usually come disguised. The disciples would have walked right past this “miracle waiting to happen.” They had places to go and things to do. But Jesus stopped. Then He asked the two men a loaded question: “What do you want me to do for you?”

Is that question even necessary? They are blind. Isn’t it obvious what they want? Yet Jesus forced them to define exactly what they wanted from Him. Jesus made them verbalize it. He made them spell out exactly what they wanted Him to do, but it wasn’t because Jesus didn’t know what they wanted; He wanted to make sure that they knew what they wanted.

What if Jesus asked you the same question: What do you want Me to do for you? Would you be able to spell out the promises, miracles, and dreams God has put in your heart? I’m afraid many of us would find ourselves at a loss for words. We have no idea what we want God to do for us, and then we wonder why it seems like God isn’t doing anything for us. The great irony, of course, is that if we can’t answer this question, then we’re as blind spiritually as these men were physically.

Most of us don’t get what we want simply because we don’t know what we want.

We’ve never made a list of life goals. We’ve never defined success for ourselves. We’ve never circled any of God’s promises. And we’ve forgotten most of the prayers we’ve prayed before they are even answered.

If faith is being sure of what we hope for, then not being sure of what we hope for is the exact opposite of faith, isn’t it?

Well-Defined Prayers

A few years ago, I read one sentence that radically affected the way I pray: “God does not answer vague prayers.” I was immediately convicted by how vague my prayers were. Some were so vague that there was no way of knowing whether or not God had answered them. To be honest, I was subconsciously hedging my bets. My lack of faith didn’t allow me to go out on a limb and lay my true request on the line. And because I was afraid God might not answer, I didn’t even give Him a chance to answer!

The more faith we have, the more specific our prayers will be. And the more specific our prayers are, the more glory God receives. If our prayers aren’t specific, however, God gets robbed of the glory He deserves because we second-guess whether or not He actually answered them. We never know if the answers were the result of specific prayers or general coincidences that would have happened anyway. Well-defined prayers give God an opportunity to display His power in new ways. Well-developed faith results in well-defined prayers, and well-defined prayers result in well-defined answers.

Nearly two decades ago, Sergei and Aleona Isakov put their faith in Jesus Christ through the influence of American missionaries who served in Russia. Aleona turned her profession — fashion design — into her pulpit. She has shared her testimony with millions of people by means of televised interviews and live fashion shows in Russia, Israel, England, and Australia. A few years ago, Sergei and Aleona felt called to literally return the favor and move to D.C. as Russian missionaries to America. That’s how they landed at National Community Church. In Aleona’s words, “We believe that revival is coming to America, and we want to be part of it.”

During our prayer challenge, Aleona spelled out six miracles. Their specific nature challenged and inspired me. First, she prayed that God would give her a platform at the National Prayer Breakfast to share her newest fashions. God answered that prayer with an invitation to speak to one hundred guests at the NPB, and one of those guests then invited her to speak at a conference in Norway. Second, they prayed that they’d receive their EB-1 visas, but God did them one better by providing green cards that allow Aleona to bring her entire fashion collection to the United States. Third, she prayed that God would heal her husband’s six-month cough. No more cough drops required! Fourth, she prayed that her daughter and son-in-law would get American visas. They got them in two weeks’ time. Fifth, she prayed that God would send her a new fashion photographer who loves Jesus. What she didn’t expect is that the amazingly talented photographer would volunteer to shoot for free. And last but not least, Aleona prayed for a good job for her husband. Sergei started his job as an IT engineer at National Geographic Magazine two days after the prayer challenge ended.

Too often we rob God of the opportunity to answer our prayers because they are so vague. Don’t worry about when God answers or how God answers. That isn’t our responsibility. Our responsibility is to simply discern what God wants, and then humbly yet boldly to ask Him for it. And God will throw in a few holy surprises along the way because He may spell the answer differently than we spelled the request.

The Ladder of Success

Jesus is still asking the question: What do you want Me to do for you? And like the two blind men outside Jericho, we still need an encounter with the Son of God. We need an answer to the question. We need to identify our Jericho — the promise we are circling.

What promise are you praying around? What miracle are you marching around? What dream does your life revolve around?

What is your Jericho?

Jericho is spelled many different ways. If a loved one has cancer, it’s spelled healing. If your best friend is far from God, it’s spelled salvation. If your family is falling apart, it’s spelled reconciliation. If you have a dream beyond your finances, it’s spelled provision. But whatever it is, you have to spell it out.

It’s easy to get so busy climbing the ladder of success that we fail to realize the ladder is not leaning against the wall of Jericho. Eternal priorities get overshadowed by our everyday responsibilities, and we pawn our God-given dream for the American dream. So instead of circling Jericho, we end up wandering in the wilderness.

What is your Jericho?

If you can’t answer this question, stop reading. Get into God’s presence and get an answer! Obviously, the answer to this question changes over time. We need different miracles during different seasons of life. We pursue different dreams during different stages of life. And we stake claim to different promises during different situations. It’s a moving target, but we have to start somewhere.

Why not right here, right now?

Define your dream. Claim your promise. Spell your miracle.

Most of us don’t get what we want because we don’t know what we want.