Prompt Response: What Would I Wish?
with help from Gemini, Nano Banana, and Photo Studio Pro app
The genie grants you a wish. What is it?
Just one wish? I thought genies were supposed to grant you three wishes! 🧐🧐🧐 But I guess I shouldn’t be greedy, right? I mean any kind of free bonus is a benefit, isn’t it?
Well, maybe not. There is the story of three friends who found a magic lamp together, so the genie in that lamp said they could each have only one wish. The first friend jumped at the chance and asked for his own private island with a fancy resort and all the riches he could ever want. POOF! The wish was granted and the friend began his happily ever after. Not to be outdone, the second friend wished for a hundred billion dollars (after taxes 😂) and a private jet and yacht. When he wasn’t living on the yacht, he planned to visit his other friend’s resort. POOF! He got zapped to his new yacht and on the way to his friend’s private island.
But then, there was the third friend. A bit slow on the draw, he scratched his head asking himself what he should wish for while the genie waited impatiently. He would’ve asked his friends for advice, but they were both living their new dreams many miles away from him. When the genie told him to hurry up, he looked around at the empty chairs near him and said, “It sure is lonely here, now. I wish my two friends were back.” POOF! 🧞
Since it’s Sabbath evening, I’ll just leave it there except to say that I’ve already had a few conversations with The Lord about wishes, and it usually comes back to trusting His plan and provisions above all else. Sometimes, you get exactly what you ask for and find out it’s not what you wanted at all. Other times, you don’t get what you ask for at all only to find out later that you actually got what you needed instead. So whether you ask a genie (not recommended), or you ask Yahveh Almighty (your Father who only desires the best for you), ask according to His word, and trust His perfect will for your life.
A Few Scriptures About Asking
“Two things I ask of You — do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and deceitful words far from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the bread that is my portion. Otherwise, I may have too much and deny You, saying, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, profaning the name of my God.”
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”
“And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures.”
And One Scripture Reference About Trust
“You will keep in perfect peace the steadfast of mind, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, because GOD the Lord is the Rock eternal.”
🙏🙏🙏
Shabbat Shalom! 🕊️
Last minute addition from my creative mind: What if a genie rubbed the lamp and a Holy Bible floated out as his answer?
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Pick A Hand
Whose Hands by Flickr User Tambako the Jaguar, CC License = Attribution, No Derivative Works
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I recommend a visit to this photographer’s page if you like wildlife and stunning nature photos. His work is amazing.
Have you ever hidden a gift in your hand and then put your hands out in front of you or behind your back to let a child guess where the prize might be? It’s a fun game adults like to play with children that adds an element of effort to gift-giving. When we want to give good gifts to children, we might make them play the guessing game with us just to make it a little more fun for both the child and us. It doesn’t matter if it’s our own children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, or whoever. Making the gift more like a prize for them ups the value at least a little bit.
If you’ve played that game, you know that you will do just about anything to get the child to select correctly. Maybe you’ll lean your head to the side it’s in. Maybe you’ll wink on that side. Maybe you’ll lift the correct hand just a little higher or lower, or push it out a little farther, just to have a better chance that the child will pick the hand with the gift. We want the child to get the gift, and we don’t want the child to feel like a failure. We want to give the prize so much that if we are using the behind-the-back technique, we will often just change hands if the child guesses incorrectly.
Off and on, I’ve studied about the effects of prayer on God. I had heard, and even repeated, that prayer doesn’t change God, but instead prayer changes us. God is God and is the same yesterday, today, and forever, so we cannot change Him. We wouldn’t want a God that is changeable just by human requests because then we couldn’t trust Him. But, the other day I was seeking God’s instruction on this topic, and the above scenario came into my mind.
As I played the hidden gift game in my mind, but with God as the parent, I realized how much God wants to shower good things upon His children. He loves to give us gifts and prizes, but He wants interaction with us at the same time. His word says that we have not because we ask not, so if prayer is not for the purpose of changing Him, then His desire for us to ask is about that interaction. He also knows that our faith will increase when He answers our requests.
That understanding came about in the last week. My understanding of prayers that request things of God went a little deeper today. I watched an older 700 Club that did an interview with Max Lucado, and he made a statement that truly clarified things for me. He explained that prayer does not change God’s intentions, but it does affect His decisions.
As a parent or caregiver to someone we love, we will have certain intentions and a certain will that underlies all our decisions. We want whatever will protect and benefit those we love and care for. Even though we want to give them good things, if they ask for something that would go against our intentions or will for their best care, we will deny the request. As Christians, if we ask God for something that goes against His intentions or will for our lives, He will most likely deny that request. Asking Him, however, creates that interaction that enables us to discover God’s perfect will and His intentions for our lives.
In Matthew 7:7 (NKJV), we get the reminder to just “ASK” for what we want. If I write the verse in three parts, one sentence on top of another, note the first letter of each sentence…
Ask, and it will be given to you; Seek, and you will find; Knock, and it will be opened to you.
Yep, the three first lines remind us to simply ask, or as it says in The Amplified Bible and other versions, “Keep on asking.” Again, in The Amplified Bible, we read Philippians 4:6 that tells us to continue seeking God for our requests. It says…
Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.
Like the old song says, “He’s got the whole world in His hands,” so we can know that He is able to provide whatever we ask for. Reach up in praise and touch the Hands that hold whatever provision you need. Pick a hand and know that you’ll get the prize. Both hands have the nail scars to prove they’ve earned it for you.
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