What is it you would like for me to do for you?

The Gospel reading for this past Sunday was Mark 10:46-52

46 And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging.
47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.
48 And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me.
49 And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee.
50 And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.
51 And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.
52 And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.

There is a lot in this story about the power of God and the faith that receives it. I thought about that as the pastor preached on this very section.

I only want to consider one verse in this post, and that's verse 51. The KJV has it, What wilt thou that I should do when to thee? While that captures the Greek well enough, I confess people today might stumble over it. The ESV has it, What do you want me to do for you? And I admit, while it's not bad, it just sounds harsh, almost irritated, to my ears, What do you want? And that's clearly not what Jesus was saying.

It's all in this word translated wilt thou. The word can refer to purpose or to desire. When it comes to translating the Bible, I prefer a concordant or word for word literal translation (as far as makes sense in English), but here is a time when perhaps a dynamic equivalence would make it clear. I would translate it like this, What is it you would like for me to do for you?

By saying, Have mercy on me, the man was indicating he wanted something, he had a request for Jesus. And when Jesus spoke to him he was acknowledging that and asking the man, “What can I do for you? How can I help you?”

At first glance that may seem kind of silly. The man was blind, obviously he would want his sight, yet Jesus asked him, What is it you would like for me to do for you? This teaches us an important spiritual principle: It is important, it is necessary, that we speak out what we want God to do. It's not enough to simply say, “Help me, Lord,” “Have mercy on me Lord,” “Give me grace...” We need to be specific. Not just, “Bless my family,” but, “Save them, deliver them, heal them, sanctify them...” We need to make specific requests.

We not only need to make specific requests, but be persistent – he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. Began to cry out, meaning he was repeating this over and over. At first he received no response. He cried out and got nothing back. Then many charged him that he should hold his peace. Everyone around him sought to deter him, “Stop that. It won’t work.” How discouraging. How did he respond? He cried the more a great deal. He would not give up until he had Jesus’ attention. Persistence.

We can’t forget faith. Jesus said to him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. He cried out in faith. Faith to recognize Jesus as thou son of David. Faith to cry for mercy, faith to persist, faith to make a specific request. When I pray I need to make a specific request, I need to believe God for it, and I need to pray until I receive from Him. Amen.

And if it's important for me to articulate my request, this is also a principle when ministering to others - I need to get them to tell me what they want before I pray for them.

When I was Pastor in Pensacola, FL, Don Robson was pastor of the church in Elberta, AL, 30-40 minutes away. He told me of a Sunday when he had offered to pray and anoint with oil anyone who wanted to be healed. A few people responded and he was praying for them. It was his custom to ask them, “What are you believing God for?” He asked a woman who had come forward and she said, “I have a condition and the doctor said it would take three surgeries to correct it. I would like for you to believe God with me that it would just take one surgery.” Now Don told me he would have prayed for no surgeries, but he joined her in prayer and faith that one surgery would be sufficient. (It was!) But you see, it was important to ask her, “What are you asking God for, what do you want from the Lord?” Because it was different than what Don was thinking, and you can’t agree in prayer when you are asking for different things.

We had five churches all within 45 minutes of each other on the Gulf Coast, we used to have men's rallies, women's rallies, youth rallies. The youth rallies were a day of games, food, music, and a message. I remember one particular rally, the evangelist was pleading with the young people to come to Christ. His closing illustration was a story about somebody who had gone to church, heard the gospel, not responded, and died in a car crash on the way home. He gave the invitation and several young people responded. I was one of the counselors for the day and I met an elementary-aged boy and took him off into a room to pray. I asked him right off, “Why did you come forward?” He said, “I don't want to die in a car crash on my way home.” Oh man! I don't remember how the rest of that time went but I do know that I had to start at the beginning and clear up his misunderstanding. And I wouldn't have known that if I hadn't asked him, “What are you asking God for?”

When someone asks me to pray for them, I need to ask them, “What is it you would like for Him to do for you?” and go from there.

What a blessed and faith inspiring question:

What is it you would like for me to do for you?