Basketball Hoop & a God of Specifics

John 11:22 But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”

Several years ago, when my older son Edwin was a teenager, he asked me for a basketball hoop (as seen in the picture) at our house as his birthday present, we went shopping and found one at a good deal.  I had it installed next to our driveway, so that our children could play. My son was thrilled about it and continued to enjoy it for several years, until he moved out of the house for college. 

Just like my son, don’t you hope that all our requests are answered like this and we too experience the same thrill?  However, when we are praying to our Living God, we do not seem to be getting the answers of what we ask. I am sure you have wondered why! All the prayers seem to be vanishing in thin air and we seem to be without any peace.  We seem to be missing the thrill that my son obtained. I believe one of the key reasons for that is that we always seem to be approaching God with vague petitions, and what is outside His will for us.

We seem to be praying to God and saying, “Please bless me, please take care of my needs, please give me a house, please give me a job, please give me a good spouse….etc.  We think that since God knows our needs, we can ask our petitions vaguely rather than specifically. Most of the time, we do this because we do not understand how God operates.  We can only understand God when we see His pattern of operation as seen through the lives of millions of people as mentioned in His Word, the Bible. 

In the beginning, when God put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, he specifically told them not to eat the fruit from a particular tree.  Again, when God told Noah to build an ark, he gave him the exact height, length and width.  When God appeared to Moses in the burning bush, he gave his specific plans to follow to deliver Israel from Egypt. Also we see God specifically defining the path for eternal life, that is, only through Jesus can one get eternal life and salvation. There is no other god, person, angel, spirit or religion that can  promise man of eternal security with God. The God of the Old Testament is the same today. His nature has not changed; his mode of operation has not changed.  If God operates with specifics, then why do we make general and vague prayer petitions?

Hebrews 11:1 tells us that - "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for . . ." Without having clear-cut goals of the 'things,' or a clear-cut vision of the objects, how can you hope? How do you have faith?"

We can also see Jesus doing His miracles in response to clear-cut requests from people with specific goals in mind. In Mark 10:51-52, we see a blind beggar named Bartimaeus shouting out to Jesus. When Jesus came to him he asked him, “51…“What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man said to him, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” 52 And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.” 

Today I want to encourage you to pray to God with specifics. Be bold to ask God, if it is a real need and is within God's will. Stop praying vague prayers and be specific in your petitions to Jesus. However, this kind of prayer has to be considered with several caveats. The first is that such prayer should always be in sync with God’s will, since God knows what is best for us. Second, God’s answer maybe Yes, No, Not now or I have something better for you. Thirdly, no matter what the answer we get, if we are in God’s will and walk in His presence we will always experience His peace with the answer He gives us.

Yes, God wants us to be specific in our prayers, but the answers will always be the best for our lives. Many times we will also see that it is fully answered to the very detail that we asked for like the request for a basketball hoop.