Don't Settle For Less

“That night the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!”

1 King 3:5

Solomon was both the richest and the wisest man to ever walk the earth, save the Lord Jesus. Sadly, I think many if not most believers in Jesus settle for way less than what the Lord would have for us, me included. Don’t get me wrong. I am not talking about health and wealth and prosperity doctrine which is gaining more and more traction in the United States than in most other parts of the world. I am talking about spiritual riches, eternal wealth, the kind Solomon asked for from the Lord and received.

Read the conversation between Solomon and the Lord in verses 5-14 of 1 Kings 3, “That night the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!” Solomon replied, “You showed great and faithful love to your servant my father, David, because he was honest and true and faithful to you. And you have continued to show this great and faithful love to him today by giving him a son to sit on his throne. “Now, O LORD my God, you have made me king instead of my father, David, but I am like a little child who doesn’t know his way around. And here I am in the midst of your own chosen people, a nation so great and numerous they cannot be counted! Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong. For who by himself is able to govern this great people of yours?” The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom. So God replied, “Because you have asked for wisdom in governing my people with justice and have not asked for a long life or wealth or the death of your enemies—I will give you what you asked for! I will give you a wise and understanding heart such as no one else has had or ever will have! And I will also give you what you did not ask for—riches and fame! No other king in all the world will be compared to you for the rest of your life! And if you follow me and obey my decrees and my commands as your father, David, did, I will give you a long life.”

All this reminds me of C.S. Lewis who said, “Aim at the earth and you get nothing. Aim at heaven and you get the earth thrown in.” It kind of goes along with another saying I like, “God gives His best to them that leave the choice to Him”. It’s so true and this truth has stood out to me more and more in my most recent study through the book of Acts. What I have discovered afresh is there isn’t a single instance that I have found where the apostles prayed for the individual gifts of the Holy Spirit. I believe this is for good reason. They wanted it all. The apostles understood the mission. Jesus had said “Go into all the world” and Jesus concluded it with “and I will be with you”. They had never suffered need from the moment He called them to follow Him so why would things be different now?

If there is one thing that has become perfectly clear to me over the past few months it’s the apostles understood that doing the will of God, doing what God has called each of us to do obligates God to do what He promised to do. Suffice it to say, if you are being obedient to the call of God for your life, He has made Himself responsible for you as the apostle Paul teaches us in Philippians 4:19, “And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.”

God really does want to meet our needs, He wants us to be totally dependent on Him because thats the only way we will ever know true freedom. I want to encourage you to pray the Lord’s Prayer each and every day in some fashion or form from the heart. Pray, “Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” To accomplish God’s will you will have need of resources and Jesus taught His disciples to pray in such a way believing in faith that God will supply the need. Thats part of the Lord’s Prayer.

So, go for it, aim high today! Dream big and trust God like you’ve never trusted Him before. Don’t pray for things for yourself but pray God’s will would be done. When we focus on God and on the needs of others God comes through for us. Thats what happened in Solomon’s life. When Solomon prayed he asked God would give him wisdom for the benefit of others and to help others God knew Solomon would need the financial resources to go along with the wisdom the Lord was giving him. As pastor Chuck Smith would say, “a million dollars is just a one with a bunch of zero’s behind it.” Pray and ask God to come upon you today so that you have all the gifts of the Spirit that the Spirit desires for you to do His will and then trust Him as you “GO” that my God will supply everything you have need of. He has promised He will. Trust Him!

“For the word of God will never fail.”


Luke 1:37


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