Asking for guidance is kinda like asking for a job. If you were to go to the owner of a company and ask for a position, his or her first question would be, “What can you do?” God asks the same thing when we ask to serve. Divine guidance will always come in accordance with what we are ready for, never more. This has a built-in opportunity – great endeavors require great preparation. The more we prepare, the better guidance we will get.

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Too often, we ask God, “What should I do?” God’s reply to this kind of question is, “What do you want to do?” Even if we ask the question in regards to a specific situation, God’s response is the same, “What do you want?” While it’s true that we shouldn’t be attached to the outcome, we at least need to know what outcome we are looking for. However, we have to know what we want without reaching for it. We have to have a clear idea of it without trying to make it happen. When we know what we want, the guidance on how to get it will be there. But if we don’t know what we want, no guidance will be forthcoming. How could it?

You have to realize that you are lacking a thing before you can want it. The very word “want” means that you are without. If you think that you know the answer to a question, or if you are attached to a particular answer, you are already in possession of the answer you want, even though it is probably wrong. Admitting that you don’t know the answer (and being willing to accept one whether or not it agrees with you) requires humility.

Sometimes, we only think we know what we want, but later on we realize that we were headed in the wrong direction. But if you are stuck, if you are confused and don’t know what you want, wanting anything will at least get you moving. Once in motion, course corrections are relatively easy. Have you ever tried to steer a car while it was standing still? Turning the steering wheel has absolutely no effect on the direction the car is headed. But once it starts moving, then you can control where it goes. The same principle applies in your life and what you want out of it. If you don’t know what you want, choose something/anything. As you start to move toward that goal, its actual value will become apparent and you will be able to tell whether it is right for you.

Receiving divine guidance requires the willingness to step out in a direction that you choose. We can’t ask God to choose for us; the universe simply does not work that way. Choosing is the only thing we are absolutely required to do. But, unless we are humble enough to risk making a mistake, unless we are willing to look foolish both to ourselves and to others while we stumble towards our goal, no amount of prayer for guidance will work. We must be daring enough to try. And when Spirit gives us a nudge, we have to be willing to go with it.