What Do You Want?

By Alexandra Copeland 

Through the Apostle Paul, Heavenly Father gives us a very important piece of information about His power, nature, and desire. Ephesians 3:20(NKJV) states, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.” Our God deals in the exceedingly abundantly! Not only is He able to make the exceedingly abundantly happen, but this is the greatest aspect of His Heart. He wants to go above all that you and I can ask and think. It delights Him to show us the breadth and width of His love, and it is a love that is unconditional and never ending. It will take us an eternity to embrace it, and even then, we can never exhaust it, because God’s love is inexhaustible. He just keeps giving, sharing, and loving continually. 

Even though God has told us what He’s willing and able to do on our behalves, many of us will not take advantage of what He’s made available. Ephesians 3:20 makes it very clear that we have a part to play in manifesting the blessings that are in heaven and waiting to be drawn upon. In Matthew 16:19(NKJV), Jesus Christ said, “And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” He’s already provided the keys to unlock the door, but using the keys is completely our call. We can either keep the blessings bound up in heaven—locked behind the door, and therefore bound on earth; or we can use the keys to loose them in heaven, so that they are manifested on earth. It’s our choice. We can say we want to be blessed all day long, but the truth of what we want will forever be judged by what we do. 

It is very easy to see, in our own lives and in the lives of others, that we don’t always experience the reality of the exceedingly abundantly. When asked “What do you want?” the answers may be different for everyone. Some people have been praying for years for the same thing, and they have yet to receive what they’ve been praying about. They have a sense that something is missing in their lives. Many of us know single people that have complained about the challenges of meeting and dating new people. They are seeking to find a spouse that is compatible with their own capacity to love and can’t seem to cross paths with the right person. There are individuals that are dealing with physical ailments and want desperately to be well again. Some of have broken relationships that we’d like to see restored. All of us struggle at one time or another with the feeling that something is missing in our lives, and we need the missing piece to feel whole or to move forward. 

Subconsciously or perhaps consciously, we think that once the missing element we crave or desire is firmly in our grasp, our lives will be complete. The truth that eludes us is that the desire associated with this missing piece is often a surface or outer reality. It’s a symptom, not the root of the issue. We have to be willing to take a closer look under the hood, and this is something most people are unwilling to do, because it will force us to see ourselves through the lens of truth. The truth is that we disconnect from blessings, because in the ways that count, we’ve disconnected from the Source of them.

Heavenly Father doesn’t block our blessings. Psalm 84:11(NKJV) states, “For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.” He has created us in such a way that we receive according to the power that works in us. This power is that of the Holy Spirit, and Jesus said in John 16:13 that he, the Holy Spirit, will guide us to all truth. So, if we’re not dealing with ourselves honestly, not walking in the truth, then it stands to reason that we’re not allowing the Spirit to lead and guide us. 

I have little nieces and nephews, so I keep a small candy bar well stocked. They are not allowed to fill their bellies with sweets; there’s a limit as to how many pieces of candy they may have. They don’t set the limit, because they would eat sweets until their bellies ache. The grown-ups set the limits because we have a better understanding of what is good for them. This in no way impacts their requests. They are too young to be knowledgeable and concerned about what is best for them. They want what they want and have no problem asking for it. 

Sometimes we desire blessings without having developed the spiritual strength and power to handle what we’re asking for. Ephesians 4:15 is our mandate. It tells us to “speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.” Our oversight, neglect, refusal, or failure to grow in every way like Christ will hinder our ability to speak and live the truth in love. This conscious denial that we allow to sit and fester in our souls not only blinds us from truth, it blocks our blessing, because it blocks us from walking in the reality of our true identity. 

John 10:10 tells us that Jesus Christ has made a more than abundant life available. It must be lived from the inside out, not the outside in. Colossians 2:10 declares that we are complete in Christ, the head of all principality and power. Completeness is not available through any other source. Maturity in Christ must be our goal. Seeking to grow in him is seeking the righteousness of God, and Jesus Christ said in Matthew 6:33 that when we do this, all the other blessings we seek will be added to us.■

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.