Nov. 8, 2026 - If You Could Ask for Anything

What would you ask for if God said to you, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you”?

Most of us could make a list pretty fast. More money. Better health. More time. Some security for the future. Peace in our families. Maybe there’s something you’ve wanted for years that jumped to mind right away.

Solomon got that same chance. He was a young king with huge responsibilities, and he knew how much he didn’t know. So he didn’t ask for riches or power or a long life. He asked for wisdom, a listening heart that would help him lead people well.

That gives us a different way to think about our own lives, especially as we start a season of stewardship at Lakeview.

Proverbs tells us wisdom is worth more than silver, gold, and jewels. And there’s a difference worth noticing: knowledge is what we know, and wisdom is what we do with it.

Think about opening the pantry on a busy weeknight. You can know everything that’s on those shelves and still stand there with no idea what to make. Or you can look at what’s actually there, think about who’s coming to the table, and turn it into something that feeds people. Wisdom is that second thing.

We can have resources and not know how best to use them. We can have money and not know what’s worth spending it on. We can have time and not know where it matters most. We can have gifts and chances to serve and never notice how they might bless someone else.

Wisdom helps us connect what we have with what matters.

And wisdom usually grows over time. We learn by listening, paying attention, and getting things wrong now and then. We start to see the difference between what once felt important and what we now know is important.

John Wesley understood that money has a lot of pull on our lives. It can open doors and give us security, and it can also start running the show if we let it.

His three simple principles:

• Earn all you can.
• Save all you can.
• Give all you can.

The first one is about using the gifts and abilities God has given us. Work can be one way those gifts turn into resources, but we do it honestly and responsibly. We don’t give up our health, our relationships, or our integrity just to make more.

The second one invites us to be thoughtful about what we spend, skip the unnecessary extras, and prepare for the future. Saving isn’t about clutching everything tight. It’s about using what we have wisely.

And then there’s giving.

Wesley believed our resources weren’t meant only for us. Giving is how what we have becomes something meaningful for somebody else.

Money can become a meal for someone who’s hungry. It can support ministry, open up opportunities, and help a whole community. It can be a real, practical way of showing God’s love.

Something ordinary becomes holy.

That’s a big part of Christian stewardship. We aren’t only asking, “What do I have?” We’re asking, “What can God do through what I have?”

Our answers to that question change as life changes.

What mattered at 25 might not be what matters at 50, 70, or 90. We’ve raised families, cared for parents or spouses, had seasons of plenty and seasons of uncertainty. We’ve made big decisions about homes, careers, retirement, and the people we love. And through all of it, wisdom has been growing.

At some point, we might start asking different questions.

Is time with family worth more than one more possession?

Are experiences more valuable than things?

Would helping someone else mean more than simply having more?

What does “enough” look like?

And maybe the biggest one: What can I do with what I have?

As we begin this season, we get to ask those questions together.

The people who came before us used their resources, their abilities, and their hands to build the church we have today. Now those ministries are in our hands.

Our hands usher.
Our hands serve.
Our hands reach out.
Our hands pick up the phone and call someone who needs to know they haven’t been forgotten.

Stewardship isn’t just about keeping what we have going. It’s about how what we have can keep serving God’s work in our community.

So maybe this season doesn’t need to start with a number. Maybe it starts with wisdom.

Solomon asked for wisdom because he knew he needed help figuring out how to live and lead well. James tells us that when we’re short on wisdom, we can ask God for it.

That’s a simple place to begin:

God, give me wisdom.
Help me understand what matters.
Help me use what you’ve given me to show your love.

What if that became our prayer, not just for our finances, but for our time, our abilities, our relationships, our church, and everything God has trusted us with?

Because stewardship isn’t just about what we give. It’s about how wisely we live with what we have.