Let’s Make A Deal

By Overseer Christopher J. Harris


Have you ever played the game, "Let’s Make A Deal?" I never have, but I must admit to you that it was one of my favorite game shows growing up. I would love to see people get to that point of decision-making, where they had to potentially pick something behind a curtain that may be a knock-off prize. I remember even watching one time when a contestant picked the wrong curtain, and they picked an elephant instead of a brand new car. Wow, what a waste of a choice!

Life is kind of like this game. Every day with our prayers, we can make some major decisions of what to pray for. What would you do if you had only one prayer left? If there was something that happened in life, in which you were only granted just one opportunity to make a request of God, and He would grant that one request, but you needed to really make it a good one, what would you pray for?

Now, before you think too long, I would encourage you not to waste this one opportunity by praying for stuff. Don’t get me wrong, stuff is really good; stuff like, a new house, car, vacation spot... even clothes, electronics, or better yet, money!

I would even discourage you from praying for just social issues. Although it is a great thing to pray for things like AIDS, poverty, homelessness, cancer, drugs, sex trafficking, and the like, I wouldn’t even spend my one opportunity on these things.

Let me really help you. God has given us a great way to cover these things and more, with one prayer, one opportunity, and one chance.

We are in the same position that Solomon was in thousands of years ago. God gave Solomon one opportunity to ask for something that He would grant him for the rest of his life. In 1 Kings 2, God says to Solomon, "What can I give you? Just Ask..." (Verse 5)

Guess what Solomon asked for? Wisdom!

Solomon could have asked for riches, but rather he asked for the ability to fulfill his God given calling, to be a fair and just governor in Israel... to be able to walk in God’s ways, with a discerning heart, in a corrupt world. Solomon wanted the things of God ahead of any riches and honor for himself. As I thought about this passage I wondered, why would Solomon use his one opportunity to ask for this?

Wisdom must be something really serious. Surely wisdom must be deeper than what Webster says. Webster says wisdom is, “the ability to make good decisions.” Wisdom sounds like one of the churchy words that people use to sound really deep.

Wisdom is the opportunity to crawl inside of God’s head and see how he would think about any one situation. This is better than anything! If I can really tap into how God thinks about any given situation, then that could pretty much cover every possible situation!

In an average day, I make thousands of decisions. Some of them are pretty insignificant, but some of them are major! They not only impact my now, but also my future. Some impact thousands of other people. Some affect my children, my financial concerns, my health, and so on.

Based on what God says about wisdom, when I get wisdom, I can learn how to make the best of every decision that I have. It is really interesting, because I started reflecting on how many bad decisions I’ve made, and I’ve made plenty! If I had only had the wisdom of God, the perspective that God offers in real-time, I could have avoided wasting time, effort, money, and grief. Then, I realized something... Maybe God could use those bad decisions and combine them with His wisdom to make me wiser now.

God wants to make a deal with you. If you won’t ask for just stuff, but ask for wisdom instead, he’ll give you wisdom, and then teach you how to get the other stuff to make life worth living. Is that a deal?

I’m challenged right now, to not consume my thoughts and prayers with what I’ve been praying for. I need to shift. I need to start praying for more wisdom and praying for wisdom more often. I pray the same for you.

Scripture Of The Day: "And God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding, and largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore." - 1Kings 4:29


Overseer Christopher J. Harris, a native of Palatka, Florida, currently serves as the Youth & College Pastor at Cedar Grove Tabernacle of Praise in North Carolina. He also serves as the International General Overseer of the Children & Youth Division for Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship International. For more information, visit http://www.cedargrovetop.org.…