We live in a culture of instant gratification. We want everything now, and if we can’t get it immediately, we get upset. With 2-day shipping on everything and free WiFi on every corner, we can get whatever we want whenever we want. I think this has ruined our relationship with Jesus. We start to think of God as a vending machine. If we insert two prayer tokens, we will get what we want. When we don’t get what we asked for immediately, we get mad. God isn’t a gene in a bottle. He isn’t a father who spoils us with the things we want. He spoils us with the things we need. He gives us the things we need when we need them, not when we want them.

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” – Psalms 37:4

God promises us the desires of our heart, so why don’t we get what we desire? Why does God hold out on us when we ask? The matter in question is not God, but the position of our hearts. The first part of this verse tells us to delight ourselves in the Lord. It doesn’t say, “Ask God for things you want, and He will give them.” God asks us first to delight ourselves in Him. He wants us to make Him our everything. When we find delight in God, our desires become God’s desires for us. These aren’t temporary desires that fade away in this world, but eternal desires that last into eternity. When our heart is aligned with God’s, He will give you your desires.

“And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” – Luke 22:44

When Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, He was praying so passionately that He was sweating blood. Do you pray with that passion? How many times have you prayed so earnestly for something that you begin to sweat blood? We need to pray with such passion that it will stir the heart of God. If it doesn’t stir our hearts, it won’t stir God’s heart. I think we get into the rhythm of prayer that it is no longer passionate. Our prayers become bland and empty. When our hearts are aligned with God, and we delight ourselves in God, our prayers will become passionate. Our prayers become a direct reflection of God’s heart, and the desires are not only what He has for us, but for others.

“And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.” 1 John 5:14-15

God hears our prayers when they are aligned with His will. He hears our prayers. When God doesn’t seem to answer our prayers or even seem to acknowledge us, we need to look at ourselves. Do these prayers align with God’s will? Are we passionate about what we are praying about? It isn’t about God hearing us, but about us hearing God. Have we become so wrapped up in what we want that we have ignored what God wants? God wants us to be passionate about His will. Begin to seek what God wants for you and not what you want. Delight yourself in God, and you will be given the desire of your heart, the desires that God gave you. Pray passionately for God’s will, and you will see some incredible things.