Want God To Change Your Situation Or Your Heart?

Many of us know to pray. But many times, we run to prayer because we want God to change our situations and not our hearts. What good would it be if God answers our prayers for deliverance from bad situations but we remain in a place of rebellion and we have not surrendered to Him?  God is merciful and He sometimes answers the prayers of those who are not serving Him. The scenario with King Ahab in1 Kings is a great example.  The scripture lets us know that King Ahab was a wicked king and the last straw was when he had his hands dirtied in shedding the blood of an innocent man. In 1 Kings 21: 21-22, God used the prophet Elijah to let Ahab know that he would cut off his descendants because he had done so much evil in the sight of the Lord. When Ahab heard this, he humbled himself in fasting and prayer and asked God to have mercy. God heard the prayers of this wicked king and told him that the cutting off of his descendants would not happen in his lifetime. Ahab, however, ended up dying a very horrific death. The sad part of this story is that Ahab did not have a change of heart. His repentance was an external one. He prayed because he wanted his situation to change, not because he wanted to surrender to God. How tragic!

Should you come to God in prayer? Absolutely, He invites us to cast all of our cares on Him. However, above all, God desires our surrendered hearts. We should not restrict praying to only when we are in a bind, yet we remain distant from God. He does not want us to view him as a genie and come to Him only for what He can give us. Instead, He is a loving Father who desires intimacy and total surrender from his children. So yes, absolutely come to God in prayer, but make sure at the top of your request is the prayer for a surrendered heart.