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Some of us have big needs. Some of us have big dreams. Some of us have both.

Sometimes we’re afraid to pray specifically for these needs and dreams. Maybe we think we’re being too selfish. Maybe we’re pretty sure God isn’t going to answer our prayer the way we want. Maybe we’ve stopped praying for that thing because we tried it for a while and God didn’t move.

I was thinking about that this morning as I read the story at the end of Mark 10 where Bartimaeus the blind beggar calls out to Jesus, asks to receive sight, and gets healed. If you’ve got needs or dreams that you’d like God to answer (and I think most of us do), check out what Bartimaeus did.

1) He called out to Jesus. He didn’t just sit there hoping he would get lucky. “Maybe something good will happen today” He put himself on the line and called out, even when other people were telling him to shut up. In fact, when he was getting discouragement it says he cried out even louder.

2) He told Jesus exactly what he wanted. Jesus asked him “What do you want?”. He could have said something vague like “I want to be blessed” or “I want a touch from You”, thinking that receiving sight was too much to ask for. But his request was specific and honest. He knew what he wanted, and he asked for it. “I want to see.”

Jesus not only healed him, He told him it was his faith that made him well. Now obviously, God doesn’t always move in our lives because our faith is great. And we all know it’s a good thing that we don’t always get what we want. But if I’m reading the Bible correctly, sometimes He does move when we have faith, because we have faith.

So if you have a dream or a need that requires God to do something, let Him know about it. Be honest and specific with Him (because He knows anyway), and have faith that He can do it. And if you’ve been doing that for a while and haven’t seen anything yet, don’t be discouraged. Like Bartimaeus, let it fuel you to shout louder.

It’s not some magic formula for you to get what you want, but it’s a great way to continue to develop that relationship with God.

Every good human relationship is based on honesty and communication. I think our relationship with God is the same way. Without those things, there really isn’t much of a relationship, is there?

Giving lip service to something or someone doesn’t take much. Changing your behavior actually takes effort, but your heart doesn’t have to be in it. Sacrificing of yourself? That’s something you can’t really do without love.

Most Christians are familiar with the story of the rich young ruler in Mark 10 who asks Jesus how to inherit eternal life. When Jesus tells him to sell all he has and follow Him, the man walks away sad, because he loves his stuff too much. Usually that’s the take home: Don’t love your stuff more than you love Jesus.

But dig a little deeper, and I think there’s something more we can take from this.

First, the ruler calls Jesus a “Good Teacher” (v17). He gives lip service to Jesus. But Jesus doesn’t just take the compliment, he presses past it.

Next, the ruler says of the Jewish laws, “All these I have kept from my youth.” When the lip service isn’t enough, he falls back on his behavior. But again, Jesus didn’t seem too impressed by how many laws this guy had kept.

Jesus presses deeper. (Not in an effort to embarrass the guy though, the Bible said “Jesus looked at him with love”). Jesus moves past his words, and past his behavior, to his heart. And it’s there where the ruler realizes where his own love lies. Despite his words and behavior following Jesus, his heart isn’t.

To me, this story isn’t about being rich. This story is about your heart. Not about the words you do or don’t say. Not about how loud you sing during praise and worship at church. Not about how many vices you have managed to avoid in your life. It’s about your heart.

Are you connected to Jesus? Is there a relationship there that you value more than the other things in your life? That’s what Jesus wants. That’s what God desires. I don’t mean to trivialize holiness when I say this (because I’m not), but I bet Jesus would rather you smoke a pack a day and let out a cuss word now and again if it meant being in true relationship with you. If despite those things, you gave of your time, talents, and resources to pursue Him with your heart.

I could be wrong, but I think he’d take that over the person who gives him lip service, obeys all the “laws”, but isn’t willing to sacrifice of them self to stay connected in true relationship to Him.

Lately I’ve really been trying to put myself in the position of the rich young ruler. Yes, lip service and obedience are good, but it’s not enough. To truly live by the Spirit, and to see that fruit come out of my life, I want to press deeper. I want to cultivate that relationship with Jesus, at the expense of anything in my life.

(I’ll even try to let you know how it’s going from time to time. If you’re willing to do the same, I’d love to hear about it. Either in the comments or by email, if you’d be open to sharing. Oh, and thanks for letting me share some of this stuff with you)

I wanted to add a follow-up thought to the Law of the Bakery thoughts I had yesterday. Geof mentioned in the comments that sometimes we don’t want to make ourselves available because it means giving up control. It got me thinking of other reasons why we tend to focus more on our own resources and limits.

Right after Jesus defied the Law of the Bakery by feeding thousands of people with a few loaves (for the second time), he gets in a boat with His disciples and they realize they only have one loaf of bread with them.

Do they all immediately turn to Jesus and ask Him to do some more God-magic on their solitary loaf of Wonder Bread like He had just done? Not according to the scripture, which says that they started having discussions about the bread. Who forgot to bring the rest of the bread? How are we going to split this up? Is there anyone here who wants my crust?

You can almost see the flabbergasted look on Jesus’ face when he says, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are Your hearts hardened?…Do you not remember? ” (Mark 8:17,18)

Ouch. That hurts. But it’s the same question I pose to us (myself especially). Why do we get so focused on our own limitations and resources when a limitless God wants to work through us?

+ Do we not understand? Maybe some of us just don’t get it. God really can do great things through us. If that’s the case, we can pray for faith to believe.

+ Are our hearts hardened? Maybe we know it’s true, we just don’t care. If that’s the case, we can pray for God to give us the desire to be stretched and used.

+ Do we not remember? Maybe it’s been so long since we made ourselves available to God that we’ve forgotten how He works? If that’s the case, let’s make ourselves available to Him.

Regardless of where we are, I think one thing we can all do is start talking less about how much bread we do or don’t have, and start talking more about the one who could feed the masses with just a crumb.

The thing is, God often uses the weak, the foolish, and the humble. Doesn’t that prove it’s not really about us as much as it is about Him? Personally, I’m going to try and remember that the next time I get too focused on how much or how little bread I have.

Easier said than done, I know, but I think it’s absolutely worth trying. (and if it ever leads to an amazing story of God using me to do something I am incapable of doing on my own, I’ll definitely share it here. I’d be honored if you did the same.)

The Law of the Bakery says this: “One loaf of bread can feed around 20 people”.

If you were a loaf of bread, all hot and fresh on your way out of the bakery (personally, I’d be a rye), you would be aware of this law. You would know your purpose and your limitations. I exist to feed people, and I can probably feed about 20 of them.

In the Bible there’s a couple instances recorded of Jesus feeding people with loaves of bread. In Mark 8, he has 5 loaves and there’s about 4,000 people. Imagine if, when Jesus went to use those loaves, they all jumped out of his hands and said, “We got it from here, Jesus. We know who we are, we know our purpose, and we know our limitations. We’ll do the best we can. Thanks for your support”? According to the Law of the Bakery, there would have been about 3,900 people still hungry and no bread left.

Of course, Jesus was/is not bound by the Law of the Bakery. And in his hands, those loaves of bread not only fed over 500 people each, they still had more to give when it was all said and done.

The take-home is obvious, but we still seem to live like we don’t really believe it.

Whoever you are reading this, I’m guessing you have some amazing talents and abilities, and on your own, you can probably do some pretty cool stuff. After all, you have a good sense of who you are. You know your limitations and you have a general idea about your purpose in life.

But I believe, if you make yourself available, God can do things through you that shatter your limitations and completely redefine your purpose.

Do you believe that? I mean really believe it? If so, then stop living like you’re bound by the Law of the Bakery and ask God to use you like He wants to. Forget about the limitations you think you have and open yourself up to an unlimited God. Not so He can make YOU look great, but so He can do great things THROUGH YOU.

Isn’t that how God seems to work? Doing amazing things through ordinary people?

So…why not you?