When you were younger, did you ever try throwing coins into a wishing well, or wishing if you saw a shooting star, or as you blew out your birthday candles? Maybe you heard the story of Aladdin, and hoped that one day you’d find a magic lamp with a genie too. It’s something we can still find ourselves saying: ‘I wish my life was like this’, or ‘I wish this thing would happen’. The problem with wishing is that genies and wishing wells don’t exist. But God does. And since He is in control of your life and He’s more powerful than any genie could possibly be, when your wishes become prayers that line up with His will, they can become a reality. ‘This is the confidence we have in approaching God…if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him’ (1 John 5:14-15 NIV). So how do we get familiar with God’s will? We need to learn to listen and tune into Him by spending as much time as we can in reading the Bible, talking to God, and just being quiet in His presence. Then we’ll know His voice and how He speaks to us, and we’ll recognise when He’s telling us something. But even when your wishes are in line with God’s will, you need one more thing - faith. Faith does two things: 1) It opens your eyes to see that God’s promises are for you personally. 2) It acts like a magnet, drawing the fulfilment of His promise into your life. So what are you wishing for at the moment? If it’s God’s will - He’ll give it to you.

What now?
Next time one of your friends has a birthday, ask if they have a prayer that they want to see fulfilled. Get them to blow out the candles on their cake, but instead of wishing, ask everyone in the room to pray about that thing.