"Praying for something you want"

I have a friend who is a non-Christian, and he asked me what I meant by “living for God”. I told him I meant living for God’s purpose instead of mine.

I have another friend whose life is not going the way he wants right now. There are many of us who have been kicked out of the national youth squad, and he was one of them. He was among those who feel dejected because of what happened.

Once again, as I have mentioned before, we fail to realize sometimes that the life us Christians are living for is not for us! It is for our creator who gave us this life. He uses us for His purpose. As mentioned in 1 Peter 4:1-2, “Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.”

Ever wondered why sometimes you don’t get what you pray for?
It’s because God will only grant you that at the right time according to Him. But sometimes what we pray for may only be for selfish desires. Like for example, praying that God will let you win a competition? What crap! Is that for God’s purpose? NO! It’s only for you to be proud of. It is mentioned in James 4:3, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”

From what I read from my book of devotionals, Proverbs 2:7-8, “He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those whose walk in integrity, guarding the paths of injustice, and He preserves the way of His godly ones.” This shows that if we walk in integrity, we will not stumble. God protects His godly ones, and this shows that if we pray for something that we can use to do His purpose, He will grant it to us. He will give us an opportunity to gain, for example, courage and faith. “God is ready to do His part whenever we’re ready to do ours”.

Oh yeah!! And by the way, to those who wants tattoos:
Leviticus 19:28 “Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves”.