Just Ask.

I repeat these words on constant refrain at my house. Sometimes with exasperation and often with a forced smile, these words are a sort of code I use with my kids.

Stop whining and simply ask. Don’t complain for what you need, just ask.

As I remind my kids how to communicate their needs to me I can’t help but feel a divine tap on my shoulder. Tell me I’m not the only one who senses the voice of God lovingly turning the instructions I give to my children right back at me?

Jesus invites us to ask Him for what we need. Not only that, He invites us to “ask, seek, and knock” (Matt. 7). In other words, we’re to ask and keep on asking.

God loves it when we come to Him with and ask for help. He loves when we spill out our desires–both wants and needs matter to Him.

Human nature teaches us to go it alone–to work for what we need–to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps.

We don’t please God by trying to do this Christian life on our own. Heck no! Do you know what does please God?

Faith.

In fact, faith is the ONLY way to please God. “It is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him” (Heb. 11:6 NLT).

So many days I have the wrong kind of faith. Faith in myself and my ability to hustle. If I’m honest that schoolgirl who loved to earn gold stars still comes out in me.

Human nature compels us to prove ourselves to God, but the Cross settles our worth and teaches us to rest in Jesus’ achievements on our behalf.

It takes humility to come to God and simply ask for what we need.

Children who know they’re loved have no trouble asking their parents for what they need.

Likewise, when we understand just how much God loves us–and how we’ve been reconciled in Christ–we won’t struggle to ask. Prayer will become a stream of consciousness, second nature to us like breathing.

 

Tears sprang to my eyes when I heard God speak again the same thing He’s told me dozens of times.

“Speak” isn’t the right word. In that holy moment, I felt like the Holy Spirit downloaded the information straight to my heart.

He confirmed to me again my purpose–to be a voice to the Church.

If you think Moses was pathetic the way he sidestepped God’s calling for decades, even arguing with him on the matter, then you don’t want to hear my story.

If I’m good at one thing, it’s dodging God’s call out of fear.

But that day, God reconfirmed my purpose, and ya’ll I didn’t doubt it. Instead I prayed John Lennon’s words.

“Let it be.”

Just kidding. I prayed Mary’s words when she found out she was pregnant with the Son of God. “Let it be according to your Word.”

It’s one thing to know your purpose. It’s quite another to center your life around it and say no to all the good things that will sway you from it.

It’s easier to live up to an ideal set by culture than to follow Jesus on the specific path of our purpose.

It feels risky and we like the safety of the crowd, but Jesus isn’t taking us all along the same path. He sets a different course for each of us.

Your destination isn’t my destination, and we must accept this.

We are born original, but so many of us die a copy. In this age of social media, this truism plays out every day.

Every time we compare our paths to that of others, we face distraction from our true purpose.

As Christians, we recognize that God has custom designed us for a specific calling, and there are no generic callings like there are no generic people.

The Japanese have a word for living your God-given purpose—ikigai. Ikigai is the reason for waking up in the morning. It’s the passion that drives us toward one goal even when the task is difficult.

The Greek philosophers spoke of this idea and used the word euthymia, which translates as “tranquility” in English.

I’m writing a book about finding peace in seasons of anxiety. You know what I’m learning? So many of us are anxious because we’re doing too much of the things that don’t matter and not enough of the important things.

We’re spread so thin and we’re ignoring the still small voice that reveals our true purpose. We’re trying to do it all and have it all, and it’s making us crazy.

It takes a humble faith to decide to do one thing–and one thing well. 

Until we find the courage to live out our God-given purposes, we won’t know the deep sense of peace and tranquility that come from not only knowing your purpose—but living it.

I would love to know your purpose. What has God called you to do? Are you doing it?