How to Get What You Really Want, P1

This is what you want, you want your way. Everyone wants to get their way. As long as you insist on having your way you won’t get what you really want. You may even get in your own way.

You want to do what you want to do. You don’t want anyone to tell you what to do, you want to do what you want to do when you want to do it.

We want our way, we want to do it when we want and we want it now. We want a new car right now, we want to get married now, we want kids now, we want our kids to move out now, we want a cabin, an RV, to be fit, to feel healthy, whatever it is you want, you want it now. Have you ever really wanted something right now and later regretted what you really wanted back then?

“What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you?” James 4:1

“2 You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.” James 4:2

Most of us do not know what we really want because we are so distracted by what we want. We are so eager to fulfill our desires we don’t get around to pursuing what we really want.

“3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” James 4:3

You will never get what you really want until you discover what you really value.
You could spend your entire life chasing endless wants and still feel empty. You will never have what you really want until you discover what you really and truly value.

5 Small Group Questions from Pastor John

What came to mind first when you were asked what do you want?
Talk about a time when you had a seemingly innocent want give birth to a sin, habit, or regret.
Where are you potentially getting in your own way of getting what you really want?
Have you ever pursued something you wanted that conflicted with something you valued?
What do you really want? What do you value? Which is most important to you?