How To Get Father God To Give You Stuff7 min read

I have a confession to make. I tried to give God a nice motivation to speed up a prayer request I made to Him.

It happened a while back. I had been praying to God and it seemed that He was taking His time – does anyone else think He does that so often? A little part of me also thought that there was some part of the whole equation I was not “getting”. So, I decided to add to the mathematics so I could get the answer faster.

I found someone who had just experienced the answer I wanted from God and gave him a gift to celebrate with him. I was trying to speed up God’s answer by “connecting” with the blessing of God in his life.

I did not come up with this strategy all by myself. I had heard the sermon preached a couple of times – sometimes you have to accelerate your miracle by doing some of these:

1. Make a promise to God of what you would do for Him if He came through
2. Give a financial seed to God to activate the miracle
3. Sow into the life of someone who had experienced the same thing you

But is this how God intended for us to get stuff from Him? I mean, did God intend for His kids to do a bit of guesswork on what else they need to do before they can get stuff from Him?

Sometimes God does not work the way we want Him to work and in an effort to convince ourselves that we can get Him to do that, we add new things to the mix. Let me go over the 3 “miracle accelerators” I wrote about earlier and why I think they don’t work:

1. Make A Promise: Yes, I know you will remind me about Hannah, Samuel’s mom (1 Sam 1:11-20). First, this was in the old testament when works were the order of the day. Second, I don’t really think it was the sacrifice that convinced God she was ready for a child. I think it was the fact that she had moved from seeing having a child as a get-back-card to her rival at home – Peninnah (1 Sam 1:6-7). The problem with thinking that we need to promise God to get Him to give us stuff creates the picture of God as a dysfunctional father. There must be something wrong with God if I have to promise Him something before He does what dads are meant to do – provide for his children.

2. Give A Financial Seed: First God has everything so He doesn’t need you to give financially so He can give you stuff. His basis of giving is not an exchange. That’s why He did not wait for anyone of us to give Him anything before He gave us Jesus. Second, If He can give us Jesus when we were sinners, why would He need us to give money before He can give us stuff as His children? He sends His sun to shine on the bad and the good (Matt 5:45). God’s nature is to give – why do you think He would need His children to give money before He gives them stuff.

3. Sow Into Someone else’s life: Now you are saying that to get God to give you His stuff, you hand out treats to his kids. God’s plan was never for any intermediary (other than Christ) to give access to His children getting stuff from Him. We all have the same level of access to God. I am not sure you can increase you access ratings ahead of someone else by doing that. Just come before him as you are (Hebrews 4:16)

So how did God expect us to get stuff from Him? It’s pretty straight forward and that makes it hard for most of us. This is because we can’t seem to get the approach to work the way we want it and as fast as we want it because of this. Let me lay them down for you:

1. Ask in the Name of Jesus: That’s the only basis to ask (John 14:13). Through Jesus, we have received open access to God without any need to fear and with confidence that we have His attention. In addition, He’s already given us Jesus, what else can’t He add to the mix. (Romans 8:32). I have heard a number of people make prayers and add extra-scriptural lines like – in the name of the God of Pastor so-and-so. This is probably because the pastor is a big-time preacher experiencing signs and wonders in their ministry. The problem with that is that it creates the impression that the mention of that pastor gives you better access than the access the Name of Jesus would give. By the way, if you are really hung-up on adding people’s names, you can go with “the God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob”. They at least represent the progenitors of the covenant that we now enjoy in Jesus Christ. But really, just asking in Jesus Name is ok

2. Grow up into the stuff you asked for: Rick Warren made an interesting observation “God is more interested in your character than your comfort. God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.” Let me add to that thought. Your life is happiest as you live out how God is making you holy. The reason why God gives you stuff is to make you more into His image so you can serve the people around you. After you have asked for stuff from Him, you have to work on yourself to ensure that you are ready to use the stuff for His glory or live your life for His glory without the stuff you asked for. Sometimes His glory may mean that:
   1. you don’t even get the stuff you asked for or
   2. you need to wait longer to get it or
   3. you get it immediately

In simple terms, you have to let go of the stuff and make the God the focus of your attention. God will not let anything take His place and that includes the gifts He gives us.

There you have it – this is all you need to do to get stuff from God your father. By the way, this only works if we have a premise that God is more concerned about us than we could be and the story He writes with our lives is the best for us. Otherwise, you will try to find options to getting what you want when it’s not God’s timing or try to get what He doesn’t want to give you.

So, if you have asked God for something and it doesn’t seem to be coming as quick as you want it or you are wondering what else you need to do to get it, it might be good to remember the story of Joseph.

Do you know that Joseph probably prayed for God to get him out of prison while he was in it? We can assume that because he asked the cupbearer to put in a good word for him when he got out (Genesis 40:14). Despite not having his prayer answered, he was an epitome of great service. He made himself available to serve the people around him.

There could be so many reasons why God did not take him out of prison earlier – bottom line is that God had his own script. And Joseph just kept living his life to glorify God even when he was not sure if he would get the answer he wanted to his prayer. Years later, Joseph told his brothers that He saw God’s story and not his story in everything that happened to him (Genesis 50:20). I think this is a great story to look to when doubts set it.

By the way, God has a good sense of humor and as it turned out – I didn’t get the answer after I tried to “accelerate” my answers. As a matter of fact, I don’t think I got the answer that year.

But God did it and in His sweet time.