Vanilla Wafers And A Bag of Chips

“Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.” James 4:2 (NLT)

by Alexandra Copeland

Sometimes we have an appetite for the silliest things. For me, it’s a combination of vanilla wafers and a bag of potatoes chips. I really don’t think it’s the taste as much as it is the sweetness of the childhood memories that it brings back. It was a time when I was spoiled rotten by my grandparents, and when I spent hot summer days playing endlessly with neighborhood friends. Chips were somewhat easy to come by, but vanilla wafers for folks in my little town were not nearly as accessible as they are now. My friends and I looked upon both as the crème de la crème of treats. After polishing off the entire box of wafers, we’d sit on the steps of my grandmother’s front porch, feeling that everything in our worlds was as peachy as peachy could be—couldn’t have been more right.

I can’t tell you why it is that adulthood causes us to lose sight of such wonderful feelings, but for many of us that is exactly what happens. We allow the wonder of these small treasures to slip to the back of our minds, while the pressures of everyday life take center-stage. God never wants us to lose a sense of wonderment about life. It’s a curiosity that will cause us to take risks that sometimes pay off in a huge way, but as adults some of us have forgotten what this curiosity feels like. We’ve covered it up to the point that we’re stagnated and disillusioned with our lives.

One of the most extraordinary gifts that we can give ourselves is to allow the indwelling Holy Spirit to help us tap into true joy. James 4:2 (NLT) says, “Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.” We are craving, almost starving, for something real and fulfilling, and yet we punish ourselves by not asking God for what it is we truly want.

In John 15:16(NLT), Jesus Christ said, “You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.” It just doesn’t get any better than this. You and I were handpicked by our beloved Lord and Savior, and we have an appointment. There are some things that you and I are appointed to do. We are to produce lasting fruit. We are to take the extraordinary gifts that God has given us and use them to get some things done for the Kingdom.

We don’t always know how to do this, but God wants us to open our eyes and ears to the Spirit of Truth. Jesus said in John 16:13 that the Spirit of Truth, the Comforter, the indwelling Holy Spirit will guide us into the truth. He’ll guide us in the Word, and he will also help us to successfully navigate through life. If Jesus Christ has told us this, we can bank on it. God’s Word is true. So we can have every confidence that if we lean on the Spirit, he is going to guide us into the absolute best situations. The spirit is part of the Godhead bodily just as Christ is, and he loves us just as Christ loves us. He’ll guide us into the very best situations because he wants us to see for ourselves that God’s Word is true—that God’s promises are true. The spirit wants you to be convinced that God’s way is the best way.

A lackluster existence isn’t God’s idea of the best. Heavenly Father is a wonderful God, and He’s all powerful. There’s dynamic activity constantly going on around His glorious throne, and heaven is a very thrilling and beautiful place. He created your life to be the same way. God’s love is not stagnant. God’s love creates! It motivates! It changes things for the better! This love must be activated in the way that you live your life.  You must turn the light on in your existence, so to speak, and get turnt up for Jesus!

It is awesomely important for you to know this, because when you ask God to help you tap into joy, you must allow for the fact that many times our definition of joy is a little different from God’s definition. The joy that God has given us comes from knowing the spirit within. It is a deeply rooted thing; none of this surface stuff that depends on what our conditions are from one moment to the next. The joy we have, the world didn’t give it to us and the world cannot take it away. This is the joy that we need to unleash, and the way to do it is to follow the spirit’s lead.

The spirit will guide you if you are willing to be led. Your trust in this is absolutely non-negotiable. We know from God’s Word that faith in Him rules the heavens. Everything there runs off an unconditional and unadulterated belief that Heavenly Father will take care of every detail there is. This is the very thing that we are learning down here. The earth is our grooming ground to learn to operate by faith. Recognize that as a child of God, producing fruit is your nature. So it should come to no surprise to you that the spirit will help to guide you to opportunities to do just that, but also understand that joy is a part of your new nature as well; and if you’ll ask and trust him, he’ll keep you in a place of wonderment and joy all the time. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

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