Instant Gratification vs. God Gratification

Because what could be more painful than getting what we want, holding it in our hands for a few precious moments, and then losing it because we weren’t ready for it?? What could be worse than having our dream, only to watch it fall to ruin because we weren’t mature enough to keep it?? God makes us wait for our blessings because He loves us so much. He wants us to keep the blessings, because it doesn’t Glorify Him when we lose our blessing for not being ready.

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Hello Readers, hope all’s well. Time for another post.

We live in a world of instant gratification. Not only that, this gratification is unlimited and on-demand. We can access almost anything we want at the speed of a mouse click; it takes no effort. There’s a plethora of temptations available to us anytime we want.

Living in this instant gratification world has affected us all, whether we understand or agree with that or not. No one is unscathed here. We have all been conditioned to some degree to expect instant gratification, on-demand pleasure, and no effort rewards.

But this is not the way God works; in fact, it’s the opposite of how he works. God makes us wait for the blessings we ask of him, and with good reason. That time we spend waiting is not time wasted, it has a crucial function and purpose. It’s in our best interest to go through this waiting time, for some of the reasons I will explain today. And God knows this of course, but it’s somewhat lost on the people of today, myself included.

The worst thing we can do when it comes to our prayers is fall for the temptation of instant gratification. Because instant gratification is what Satan offers, and there’s a reason for that too.

So that’s the topic for today. But first, let’s talk a little bit about the requests we ask of God.

Is God a Genie??

Believers and unbelievers alike know the verse, “ask and you will receive.” It’s one of the most famous Bible verses ever, from Matthew. It’s Matthew chapter 7 verse seven.

(7) “Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. (8) For everyone who asks, receives. Whoever seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door is opened.

Matthew 7:7-8 (CEB)

Unfortunately, many people interpret this to mean that we can ask for anything we want and God will give it to us. As if the message of Christianity were that we can have anything we want, whenever we wanted. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. For one thing, let’s start with the extra context around this. Because that extra context is important.

First John 5:14 tells us it’s not that we can ask for anything in this world. God will listen to us when we ask for what we want, but only if we ask for something in agreement with His Will. So although we can have Faith He will answer our prayer if we ask Him for something in line with His Will for us, like a Christian marriage (or something to take its place if we are not called to marriage), we also know He will never answer a prayer to kill one of our enemies. His Will is that we love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. So He would never answer a vicious prayer for murder because that’s not in line with His Will.

(14) This is the confidence that we have in our relationship with God: If we ask for anything in agreement with his will, he listens to us.

1 John 5:14 (CEB)

The important thing to understand is that God is not a wish-granter. He’s not a blessing vending machine where we put prayers in and get blessings out. He’s not a genie who serves our every whim and makes all our dreams come true. He wants to give us good things if we love Him—most importantly an eternity in paradise with Him. He wants good things for us here on earth too, but that doesn’t mean He will give us everything we ask Him for. He doesn’t exist to serve our every desire; we exist to serve and glorify Him.

You would think most Christians would understand this. But as I explained in Part 98 for example, some Christians see God as the blessings vending machine. And this is a very, very dangerous deception they’re under. Because it makes them vulnerable to another deception from the devil ….

You see, it’s not only the content of our request that matters to God. The timing of Him answering our prayers is also very important. Because there’s a world of different between how fast God answers prayers and how fast the devil does.

The Wait Is a Blessing too

When we ask God for something, He makes us wait. God makes us wait so He can mature us and make us grow so we’ll be able to handle, manage, and take proper care of the blessing He wants to give. This is very important, because He knows when we ask for something whether where we’re mature enough to take care of and keep that blessing or not.

If your nine-year-old child asked you for a car, would you actually give him one?? Of course not, because he would crash it and hurt himself and others. Your nine-year-old child is not mature enough to handle the blessing of a car, and you know it. So you know that if you gave your child the blessing of a car, he would lose it for not being able to take care of it. And this is why you make him wait, even though he doesn’t like that. It’s for his own good.

Well, it’s like that with us and God. We are like the nine-year-old child. God will give us the Holy things we ask for when it’s time and when we’re mature enough to take care of the blessings so we can keep them. Praise the LORD for his Divine Wisdom!!

Because what could be more painful than getting what we want, holding it in our hands for a few precious moments, and then losing it because we weren’t ready for it?? What could be worse than having our dream, only to watch it fall to ruin because we weren’t mature enough to keep it?? God makes us wait for our blessings because He loves us so much. He wants us to keep the blessings, because it doesn’t Glorify Him when we lose our blessing for not being ready.

But Satan doesn’t work like that. Satan is like the perverted opposite of God in everything he does. And Satan hates us and wants the worst for us, unlike God. And for these reasons, if we ask Satan for something by knowingly or unknowingly following him instead of the LORD, Satan will give us exactly what we ask for— and he’ll give it right away.

God makes us wait, so He can get us ready. Satan gives us what we want right now, so we won’t be ready and we’ll lose it. Because Satan hates us and he wants to see us suffer, he wants to see us in tears and despair.

God gives us what’s best for us, which may be something completely unexpected and not at all what we imagined. But Satan gives us exactly what we asked for, all the way down to the smallest detail. He does this because when we ask for something so specific, he knows we aren’t asking for the right thing. He knows we aren’t valuing blessings the way the Lord does.

Not all that Glitters Is Gold

Let me give you a specific example from my personal life.

I once prayed for a girlfriend, because I was so lonely. I prayed and prayed and prayed, “please, please just give me a girlfriend.” And since this was the first time I was praying for a girlfriend, I decided why not pray for the exact kind of girl I like. So I asked for my specific type, describing her all the way down to the very specific features I enjoy in a woman.

A few months after these desperate prayers, I met my (now) ex-girlfriend. She was exactly who I had prayed for, she fit the description all the way down to the smallest detail. She was incredibly beautiful, God really blessed her in that area. And we hit it off immediately and got close fast. Too fast.

But I broke it off with her almost one year after I met her. Though she was beautiful on the outside, she was ugly on the inside. Her inner character didn’t match the beauty of her outer features at all. She was manipulative, deceitful, disloyal, controlling, envious, and narcissistic. Most importantly, she hated the LORD and she hated Jesus. She practiced witchcraft and made it a point not to follow Christianity. She made it a point to reject God. A Christian relationship is built on a foundation of wanting to Glorify God together. It goes without saying I could never bring glory to God through a relationship with any woman like her.

But imagine if I had stayed with her. I would have followed her into darkness, and never been saved. She would have dragged me to where she’s going if she does not change her ways and turn to the Lord. And this is why Satan gave me exactly what I unknowingly asked him for. He gave me the exact thing I thought I was asking God for because he knew it was bad for me; it was deadly. He gave it to me because he knew I was asking for the wrong thing.

I was asking for the wrong thing the whole time. I was valuing what the world values—qualities like physical beauty and sex appeal. I wasn’t valuing what the LORD values in a woman. I was only looking at the outside, I wasn’t looking at her on a Spiritual level. I wasn’t looking at her character or her Faith (which she didn’t have). Through the bad experience I had with her, the LORD taught me to value what is truly precious: a woman’s character and her Faith. No amount of makeup or fashion can make those two Qualities different from what they really are.

I often thank and praise the LORD for giving me the strength to walk away from her. But I also thank and praise Him for the learning experience I had from being hurt by her. Because that learning experience taught me what I actually want in a woman. The experience taught me to stop looking at things how the world does, and to try my best to see things the way the LORD does.

But if I had stayed with her because of her outer beauty, my life would be terrible. Not only would I be suffering a living hell here on earth, I would also suffer an eternal hell upon death because she would have led me away from Jesus, my Salvation.

Now I know how important it is to wait for the true blessing God wants to give, and not to fall for the instant gratification Satan tries to mislead us with. Now I understand why God makes us wait, but Satan gives us the exact thing we ask for right now.

Worth Waiting for God’s Best

You may have read another post of mine entitled, “Waiting on the Lord in a Fast-Paced World.” In that post I described how the fast-paced world of instant gratification we live in has severely harmed our ability to wait on the LORD. We’ve become used to getting what we want, whenever we want it. Not only is everything instant, it’s also unlimited and on-demand.

But these are the ways of the world today. This isn’t how God works. God makes us wait, and for good reason. God wants us to know what are the true blessings we should actually be praying for. And He wants us to be mature and ready so we can take care of and keep those blessings. Because it doesn’t bring Him Glory if He gives us something we’re not ready for and we lose it because we couldn’t handle it. So He won’t do that.

In the same way no one would give a small child a car, God also makes us wait for our blessings until we’re ready.

Being able to delay gratification is a healthy and mature thing, especially in today’s world of no-effort, instant on-demand gratification. It shows maturity, especially Spiritual maturity, to be able to wait on the LORD. Waiting on the LORD isn’t always easy, in fact it can often be painful. But it’s always worth it, because what God wants to bless us with is better than anything we could imagine.

And what could possibly be worse than getting our hands on what we desperately want, only to lose it?? That tragic outcome is what Satan misleads us into by tempting us to be impatient. Know the difference between how God and Satan work.

Satan provides instant gratification that never satisfies for long. God provides delayed gratification at the right time that satisfies for a lifetime and beyond. Waiting on the Lord isn’t always easy, but it’s always worth it.

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Until next time, be strong and do good!

Your new best friend in Christ,

99:9

<<<EXALT THE LORD OUR GOD AND WORSHIP AT HIS HOLY HILL; FOR THE LORD OUR GOD IS HOLY>>>

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