Are you able to carry out everything you intend? Most people will acknowledge that they fall short of implementing everything they want to do. I said that the spirit was willing but the flesh was weak. Paul the apostle said that the good that he would do he did not. Yet have you known a few people with an ‘iron will’ who were able to do what they intended? But what sort of person were they? Were they achieving love and righteousness by strength of will? Were they pleasant company? Don’t you find people with an iron will to be difficult, selfish, and stubborn? The stronger your will is more it can take you places you don’t want to go. You enter the Kingdom of God by surrender. 

Have you ever played hide and seek? This is a game that small children enjoy playing with cooperative adults. It produces an earnest search and finding always brings forth an expression of joyful delight. Does it ever seem that I am playing hide and seek with you? My word says that I hide myself, but also promises that if you seek me you will find me. I do not hide myself from you to frustrate you or put distance between us. I love you and want a deep intimate relationship with you. Can you see that your search for me facilitates this? Consider the joyful delight of the children’s game and compare it to your own experience of finding me. 

Do you thank me for the prayers I answer? Do you ever thank me for the prayers I don’t answer? You pray for the things you want and expect answers. Yet have you ever looked back on  a prayer that I appeared not to answer, and realized from the perspective of more time and reflection that it would not have been good for you to have what you requested at the time? If your prayers are uninformed I may have to decide between giving you what you ask for and what is really best for you. Which of these would you prefer? Seek my will and pray according to it to make it easy for me to answer your prayers. 

My Great Commission to you was to preach the gospel to every creature. You may consider this a daunting task but I don’t expect you to do it alone. Do you want to see it fulfilled? Consider the stories I told about the laborers in the vineyard and the prodigal son. Those who labored all day didn’t think the late comers were worthy of a full day’s wages, and the elder brother didn’t think the younger brother’s return was worth celebrating. In both cases these positions did not agree with the true authority. Set aside for a moment the difficulty of the Great Commission and the details of the task. Is it your heart’s desire to see everyone in the Kingdom of God?