A few months back, Luke came downstairs holding a pajama top in his hand. He held up his shirt to me and voiced his one word grunt for everything he needs, "Ugh!"
"Do you need Mommy to help you, Luke?"
We had done this a hundred times. My mommy plea to encourage my five-year-old to USE HIS WORDS.
With a skinny, long, and frustrated arm, he held the shirt to my chest. Pressing it against me, "Ugh!"
"No." I said. "I do not know what 'Ugh!' means. I need you to tell me what you want."
And as they went out of Jericho, a great crowd followed [Jesus]. And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!" The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be silent, but they cried out all the more, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!" And stopping, Jesus called them and said, "What do you want me to do for you?" They said to him, "Lord, let our eyes be opened." And Jesus, in pity, touched their eyes and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him. Matthew 20:29-34
Jesus, the omniscient, all-knowing God. The One who knows our every thought and every word before we even speak them. He knew exactly what the blind beggars needed. There was no guesswork involved. Jesus could have sent power to heal them three miles away. He needn't stop and ask, "What do you want me to do for you?"
But there was importance in the beggars asking, specifically, what they needed of Jesus.
Now, I knew when my son Luke came down holding his shirt that he needed help with those buttons. I knew his little fingers tried hard upstairs to push that tiny circle through a little slit. I could only imagine how long he tried to button his shirt himself before he brought it to me.
But I needed Luke to ask me, "Mommy, will you help me put on my shirt."
I need him to use his words. I want to teach him to ask for help. I want to equip him to be successful when I am not around.
I want him to ask me. Not grunt me.
This morning, my soul sits open before the Lord and the last thing I want to do is grunt Jesus an "Ugh."
Prayer is too important to ask for a vague, "Help me, Lord Jesus." <<Click to Tweet
I imagine my Heavenly Father saying to me this morning, "What do you want me to do for you, Becky? Give me the details.”
He is asking me today. He is asking you, too...
"What do you want me to do for you?"
Jesus might have healed those beggars regardless.
But their experience would have been mediocre. Not miraculous.
When I don't pray with intentionality and detail, I miss out on the thrill of watching God act on my behalf. The miracle is mediocre. Heaven forbid I chalk anything up to coincidence.
My God doesn't do coincidence. He does intentional. <<Click to Tweet
So this morning, "What do you want Him to do for you?" Write it down. Get specific.
Let us throw out our "Ugh!"
Ask big.
No request is off-limits.
Becky lives in Tennessee with her husband Brent and three football-crazed, little boys. She is a writer/speaker with an insatiable desire to ignite passion for Christ in the hearts of her audience. She invites you for morning coffee over at her blog, The Word of God and a Cup of Joe where she pours out her heart and seeks a life of overflow.