Our Needs And Wants

Our Needs and Wants – Focusing on What’s Available to Us! 

“Need” is something necessary to live and function. They are things we require to survive. 

“Want” is something that can improve our quality of life. It is a desire. 

As I was driving to work one morning, the Holy Spirit dropped this phrase into my spirit: “Most of the time, we as human beings dwell on what we lack or do not have and lose focus on what we have available. We cry over the things we do not have and forget what has been made available to us”. 

The Holy Spirit’s prompting made me understand that not everything we pray and ask for is given to us, so we must make do with what is available to us. God gives us what we need. He provides for us, and we make use of His provision. So, not everything that we ask for is provided. He gives us what is necessary for a project or a need at a particular point in time. He does not provide us with what we do not need. His provision for us is always enough.  

I then questioned myself about whether I was delaying in doing something God had entrusted to my hands because of my wants. Am I demanding things from God that I do not need for a project He has entrusted to me? Why is He giving me this message now? Am I asking more from God than I need? What am I doing wrong? Why is God giving me this message at this time of the day?

Are we wasting time focusing on what is unnecessary rather than prioritising on the work He has given us? Are our wants becoming more important than our needs? Are we demanding more from God than we should? 

God has entrusted His work in our hands, and all we keep doing is demanding what we do not have at our disposal, thus delaying His work. Are we rooting for God or ourselves? Are the things we ask really for God’s Kingdom advancement or our own pleasure? The work of God needs action, but our wants have gotten in the way of His mission. We are forever crying out for things we do not need in His kingdom, and our wants are getting bigger every day. So, who are we worshipping, God or man?  

Why do we need to please man instead of God? Why do we need bigger church auditoriums when the word of God is already with us? All we need to do is give Him our hearts and pray that He listens to our prayers. We don’t need anything else because everything is vanity. We live from mouth to mouth because He provides for us, but if we decide to live according to our will, we’ll face challenges because our will is in His hands and not ours. He paves the way for us, and not the other way around. He lives within us as He breathes His breath into us.  

Why are we giving all we have to the enemy? Why are we reaching out to the enemy more than God? God is our provider, Jehovah Jireh. He provides everything we need. So, if you do not have it, just be grateful for what He has given you. Not everything we want is needed for our development. Our wants are overshadowing God’s provision. 

Our wants are overshadowing God’s provision.

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God provides for our needs and meets them according to His riches in glory. So, do not focus on what you do not have and make use of or multiply what He has made available to you. 

We should make use of the little He has given us rather than searching for more. God is good and shares His will with us according to our needs. The Lord is faithful, and He meets all our needs. What need do you have that God hasn’t met? The fact that He hasn’t responded to your cry does not mean He does not care. He cares, but His provision is so small in your eyes that you cannot see it. When you cried on Him, He answered, but His answer did not come in the form or quantity you were expecting. 

What do you need for the assignment God has entrusted to your hands? Are we delaying because of our wants? God always provides for our needs before He assigns us to His work. So, what is it we need that is stopping us from taking that first step? 

Let’s see something in 2 Kings 4:1-7 (emphasis added), 

A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves.” So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.”  Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors—empty vessels; do not gather just a few. And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels and set aside the full ones.”  So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out. Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.”  And he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” So the oil ceased. Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.” (2 Kings 4:1-7)

Our wants and needs are beyond our imagination, but God meets them all according to His will. Make use of whatever you have in your possession because God has given it to you for a reason. Whatever God has given you, no matter how small, just focus on it and make something big out of it. Whatever your need is, use whatever is available to you. Whatever God puts in your hands, use it for its intended purpose. Let us concentrate on what we have than what we lack. 

What has God put in your hands? Use it! Whatever it is God has placed in your hands, no matter how small or insufficient, use it to the glory of God, because that is all you need to praise Him! 

Always know that “GOD GIVES US WHAT WE NEED”! 

Written by

Eunice Forson