Ask God to Help You Get Where You Want to Be

Getting where you want to be in life is simple: ask God to help you.
Step #1 - Determine your present position
Step #2 - Be specific about what you want
Step #3 - Look for God's promiseStep #4 -- Ask God to help you

Once you have found your promise in God's Word, pray and ask God for success, just as Eliezer did in today's verse: "O Lord, God of my master, Abraham," he prayed. "Please give me success today, and show unfailing love to my master, Abraham." Genesis 24:12 (NLT)

Your prayers reveal a couple of things. First, they reveal how serious you are about your goals. If you don't pray about them, you really don't care about them that much. If you only pray about them once, they are not a desire, they are just a whim.

The other thing your prayers reveal is how much you are depending on God to reach your goals. If you never pray about your goals, never pray about your job, never pray about your finances, you are not depending on God in any of those areas. The more you depend on God, the more you'll pray.

So determine your present position, decide what you want, find a promise from God to hold onto, claim it, and then ask God for help.

Our Future is Secured

We don't serve God out of guilt or fear or even duty, but out of joy, and deep gratitude for what he's done for us. We owe him our lives. Through salvation our past has been forgiven, our present is given meaning, and our future is secured.

Four "Hearing Aids" for Listening to God's Word

From "Purpose Driven Connection""

James says there are four "hearing aids" that help us receive the Word of God --

1. Be careful. "Be quick to listen, slow to speak ..."(James 1:19 NIV)I must have a careful attitude. Many of our problems are caused because we're quick to speak rather than being quick to listen. Be ready. Be intent to receive God's Word.

2. Be calm. "And slow to become angry ..." (James 1:19 NIV) Be calm if you're going to receive God's Word and be blessed by it. A relaxed attitude increases receptivity. If you're relaxed, people can communicate with you more. We don't hear much when we're angry, upset, bitter, or resentful. Bitterness is a barrier, an emotional block that keeps us from hearing God's Word. Some may ask, "How come God never speaks to me?" Maybe you've got some resentment in your life you need to get rid of.

3. Be clean. "Get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent ..." (James 1:21 NIV) When you have a sin in your life, it blocks your hearing and prevents God's Word from getting into your heart. He says get rid of the evil, anything that we know that isn't right in our lives.
How can we be clean? By confession. "If we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong." (1 John 1:9 NLT)

4. Be compliant. "Humbly accept the word of God planted in you ..." (James 1:21 NIV) Be teachable, yielded, humble, willing to be changed. Don't act like you know it all. If you know it all, God's Word can't get through to you.