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Daily Strength Blog

Deuteronomy 25-27, Mark 14:27-53 • Key Verse: Mark 14:36
Life is often lived in pursuit of the “wants.” People who live like this frequent the places that
provide the food they want, shop the stores that have the products they want, go to the places that
feature the entertainment they want, and spend time with those who share similar wants.
The “want-driven” life can become so ingrained that we can adopt “want-driven” praying. The
prayer list becomes a wish list, filled with wishes based on wants.

Jesus demonstrated the reality that everyone has wants, but we must seek first God’s will. “Take
this cup from me,” He prayed (v. 36). That was something He wanted and knew was possible
because, as He affirmed, with God everything is possible.

His wants, though, were second to God’s will. The next words strike at the heart of the want-
driven life: “Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

James, the brother of Jesus, learned the importance of putting wants second when praying. He
wrote, “You do not receive, because you ask with Wrong motives, that you may spend what you
get on your pleasures” (James 4:3).
When you pray, is it based on your wants or His will?
Look over your prayer list. Ask God to help you sort through the things listed and decide which
are merely your ’”wants” and should be removed.

Woodrow Kroll & Tony Beckett
www.backtothebible.in

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