As born-again Christians, we should have a healthy prayer life. Prayer is communication with Heavenly Father through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 1John 5:14-15 (NLT) tells us, “14 And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. 15 And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.” In Psalm116:1(NLT), David, the Psalmist, said, “I love the LORD because he hears my voice and my prayer for mercy.” God hears us when we pray earnestly. He doesn’t want us to pray only when we need something or have a prayer request, He wants us to talk with Him often because He loves hearing from us. When we get into a habit pattern of praying only when we need or want something, it can compromise our relationship with God. I'm sure there have been times in your life where you’ve wanted something so bad that you just couldn’t wait to have it. One of the realities of life is that whatever you focus on grows, expands, or increases. When our hearts are focused on something we want, we see it everywhere; and this makes us want it even more. As Christians, we should be extremely careful that our desire doesn’t turn into idolatry, because idolatry is something that greatly displeases Heavenly Father. Idolatry will cause us to have broken fellowship with God. In Matthew 6:21 (KJV), Jesus Christ tell us, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” He is telling us in this verse that you and I have been given the responsibility to choose what we treasure; it’s up to us! If we begin to value something more than we treasure our relationship with God, we will get dangerously close to idolatry. This is why we have to put ourselves in check to ensure that we’re guarding our hearts, and that we’re paying attention to what goes in them and what comes out of them. One of the signs that we’re heading down the wrong path is when we become impatient. Sometimes, we’re in such a big rush to get what we want that we forget to ask Heavenly Father about the situation. We neglect to talk with Him in prayer and ask for His guidance in the matter. Immaturity might prompt us to push and push to get what we want, but maturity teaches us that love never shoves or pushes. When God is in the mix, there’s a parting of the Red Sea effect; there’s an organic quality that gives us peace. This helps us discern whether we’re moving prematurely, without His divine intervention. We could be pushing for something that falls far beneath what God has in store for us. Instead, we should turn to Him, ask God if it's the right move and hold tight. If it's not, He absolutely will come through and let us know the right direction. Just as psalms 27:14 (NLT) states, “Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord," We should be patient, and wait for God's ‘yes’. We are all at varied levels of spiritual maturity. Some of us discern information from the indwelling Holy Spirit more clearly than others. We might be able to perceive a definitive ‘yes’ with confidence. Others of us need to test things out to be sure. God will most definitely help us in areas of uncertainty. In the Old Testament, the Children of Israel were being constantly terrorized by the Midianites. Because of this torture, they were forced to live in caves and could not even preserve food because the Midianites raided their crops like locusts and consumed their livestock. They cried out to God for help, and the Lord chose Gideon as the instrument to work through to rescue them. At the time, Gideon was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide from the Midianite hoarders. He was an unlikely champion, but his humility made him the right choice in God’s eyes. God assigned Gideon with his first task, which was to take down the statute of Baal, and replace it with an altar of God. Notice the order in which God moved here. The first order of business was to destroy the instrument of their idolatry. This is a strong lesson for us. We must worship the One True God through Jesus Christ, and make sure that we are not putting anyone or anything before Him. God anointed Gideon with everything he needed to proceed, but Gideon wanted assurance from Heavenly Father. Knowing that this would be no small feat, he needed an extra dose of confidence that he would be doing what God wanted. In Judges 6:36-40 (NLT), Gideon asked the Lord ““If you are truly going to use me to rescue Israel as you promised, prove it to me in this way. I will put a wool fleece on the threshing floor tonight. If the fleece is wet with dew in the morning but the ground is dry, then I will know that you are going to help me rescue Israel as you promised.” And that is just what happened. When Gideon got up early the next morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung out a whole bowlful of water. Then Gideon said to God, “Please don’t be angry with me, but let me make one more request. Let me use the fleece for one more test. This time let the fleece remain dry while the ground around it is wet with dew.” So that night God did as Gideon asked. The fleece was dry in the morning, but the ground was covered with dew."” This example of Gideon can be helpful in our own spiritual walks with God in Christ, but there are some important aspects of this record that we have to keep in mind. Gideon was not on some random tangent. He was handpicked by God to carry forth a purpose, and so are we. Our mind-and-heart-set must always be about our Father’s business. The other thing to bear in mind is that Gideon’s heart was occupied with obeying God and making sure that he was on board with what God wanted. He desired to please God, and Heavenly Father was able to do great things through Gideon because he surrendered to God’s Will. We must do the same.■ Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. “Waiting on His ‘Yes’” written by JMack. 4theChristianMan.Com© 2017. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.