Ask God for 300 things? That sounds like a lot and, to be honest, it may feel a bit greedy.
But you’d be surprised at what this challenge reveals to you about your desires, your faith and your relationship with God.
In this post, we discuss the popular 300 wishlist challenge, why it’s a great idea and how to go about it.
What You'll Learn Today
Why Ask God For 300 Things?
Steve Harvey was the one who first came up with the 300 wishlist challenge. You can watch the video below.
In the video, he challenges people to write down a 300 item long wishlist and pray to God to grant these wishes.
Why 300 things? That seems like a whole lot of stuff to ask from God.
Not only is it a challenge to come up with 300 prayer items, many Christians will feel like they are too greedy or materialistic for wanting that many things.
And that’s why a high number like 300 is perfect.
Writing down 300 things to ask God for is not just a simple exercise in writing down all the stuff you’ve always wanted like cars and houses.
At some point, it turns into a journey into your soul. By the time you get to number 75, you’ve exhausted everything you can think of and you start to question what you really want in life.
Here are a few reasons why the 300 wishlist challenge is brilliant.
1. It challenges your faith
Many of us are often too hesitant to ask God for too much or big stuff. We think there’s a cap on the number of things we can ask God for.
But there’s no cap. Jesus didn’t say you can only ask for a dozen things and no more. It is us who put a limit on ourselves. James 4:2 puts it well:
You do not have, because you do not ask.
Also remember God’s promise in John 14:13.
Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
To ask God for 300 things, some of which will have to be big things, you have to strengthen your faith. You have to cast away your doubts and really believe that God provides and answers prayers.
The list is like a test of faith. If you don’t believe God can make you a millionaire, get you that car you’ve always dreamed of or give you a happy family, you’ll struggle to complete the list.
2. It forces you to be specific
Think about it; how specific are you when you pray to God?
Many believers tend to be specific when it comes to the small stuff and usually the stuff you need right now. For example, getting healed from an illness, getting rent money for next month, getting that job you’ve applied to and so on.
But when it comes to the truly life changing stuff, we are vague about them. It’s like we expect God to read our minds.
Sure, God always knows what we need before we ask.
Matthew 6:8 …for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
But Jesus did not say this to mean we should not pray, but that we should be simple and clear when we ask of him. The preceding verse says:
And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.
And right after these verses is the Lord’s Prayer.
For God to fulfill your wishes, you have to pray to him. It shows you trust him to fulfill your needs.
Be specific in your prayers. Specify you want to be a millionaire, that you want a beach house, that you’d love to travel the world and so on.
Being specific can also help us figure out exactly what we want.
Habakkuk 2:2 Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.
3. It tells you who you really are
The last reason why you should do the 300 wishlist challenge is that it helps you discover who you really are and who you want to be.
What you write down says a lot about your character and faith.
If your wishlist is full of materialistic things, it forces you to stop and consider your priorities in life.
If you find most of your wishes are based on what other people around you have, it makes you question your reason for praying to God. Remember that wishes based on the wrong reasons will not be fulfilled as James 4:3 says.
You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
As you write down the 300 things you want to ask God for, you’ll be forced to dig deep into your soul to find your true desires.
And if what you find is not so good, you can work on becoming a better person who desires both material and spiritual riches and who wants good for themselves as well as those around them.
Tips For Writing Your 300 Wishlist Challenge
Writing down 300 things to ask God for is harder than you think. Here are some tips to help you complete the challenge.
- Take your time. It’s perfectly okay to take months to complete the list. Remember that this is also a journey of discovery and growth. Write a few at a time.
- It shouldn’t be all material stuff. Cars and fine clothes are good to pray for, but a true believer will ask for more than that. Also ask God for spiritual things like wisdom, a stronger faith, kindness to others, a clean heart etc.
- Don’t forget to include others in your wishlist. Pray for those you love, people in your community, world leaders and so on. You can also have specific wishes regarding countries or the world. Remember that God doesn’t have a limit on what you can ask for.
- Read through your list often. This will help you keep your wishes in mind and make it easier to keep praying about them.
- Feel free to share some of your wishes with a friend, partner, fellowship or prayer circle. Ask them to pray together with you.
- Spend time in prayer and reading the word. It will help you know the most important things to ask God for. It might also help to spend some time in a quiet place. This is a great time to go camping, take frequent long walks/drives, or go on a retreat.
300 Things To Ask God For
Every person’s situation is different, so I can’t tell you exactly what 300 things to ask God for.
There are some obvious things like good health, a great job or a successful business. Others depend on the state of your faith and your relationship with God.
Maybe you feel you could do with less doubt or maybe you feel you’ve not been practicing neighborly love as well as God would like.
One idea to help you create your list is to break it down into categories. Here are some of the categories I can think of and some of the suggested prayer items to add to each category.
- Material things: Cars, jet, properties, clothes, gadgets etc. You can also ask for wealth or material things to share with others.
- Spiritual things: Stronger faith, a closer relationship with God, being more prayerful, becoming more fruitful etc.
- Your relationship with other people: A happy family, a loving partner, a good friend, being more kind to those around you etc.
- Your career/business: More financial fulfillment from your job or business (be specific about how much income you’d like), a happy work environment, a fulfilling career, a dream job etc.
- Your friends and community: Healing for a sick friend, wealth for a struggling family, better crop yield in your farming community, less crime, comfort for a bereaved family member etc.
- The world around you: peace for specific countries/populations, eradication of hunger in specific regions, environmental conservation, political stability etc.
A Few Things To Remember
This is not one of those manifestation exercises. We are not writing these things down and then hoping the universe will fulfill them.
We write them so that we can pray to God about them.
So once you are done, do not sit back and keep living. This is an active prayer list now. Keep reading it and taking it to God in prayer.
Then be attentive to God’s nudging and voice.
On some things, God’s answer will be a clear yes. On others, God may nudge you towards a certain action or change before fulfilling that particular wish.
And on others, God will say no or tell you to wait.
Give yourself a year and then go through the list and see what God has fulfilled.
someone sent me this clip from Steve Harvey. When I heard it, I loved it. I immediately started my list. I quickly came to number 50. I finished with 100. Only 30 for me, 12 personal. It allowed me to see the need for all and everything around me. I told all my close personal friends about this and they loved it as well.
Thanx
God bless you