I have several friends who have homes for sale. Some of them have had homes on the market for quite some time. My wife works in the real estate sector, so I hear lots and lots of stories about this. Let me say up front that I’m not going to offer some tactic that will sell your house. If you’re looking for key words for your listing or a magic bullet I don’t have it for you, but I hope you’ll stick around anyway.

In times of a depressed (and perhaps depressing) housing market, people turn to all kinds of remedies to sell houses. Today I want to highlight one that I’ve recently seen again. When I was in a local Christian store recently I saw someone purchasing a statue of St Joseph, not unlike this one:

This got me thinking, is it an acceptable practice for Christians to use St Joseph statues to try to sell houses? Stick with me for a second while I briefly digress. Several years ago, as a teenager I remember an incident that happened to me. I received one of those common email forwards promising that I would be granted a certain wish if I forwarded it to enough of my friends. Sounds ridiculous, right? Well I did forward it to my friends, because there was something that I desperately wanted — perhaps you can relate. I remember clearly a Christian friend who took me to task after receiving my forward. I still remember what he said to me: “If there is something that you really want, you should pray for it.”

I was ashamed, because as a Christian I had succumbed to the allure of superstition. I was trying to get something, essentially through a form of magic. Now let’s bring it back. The principle is the same, if you want something, you ought to ask God. The Bible says that every good and perfect gift comes from God (James 1:17).

If you bury a piece of plastic in your yard, that has absolutely no power to sell a house. Why would it? How could it? If God desires for you to sell your house, He can accomplish that with or without plastic in the yard. Let me encourage you to ask God for what you want. Jesus tells his disciples in Matthew 7 that they should ask God for what they want, because God is a perfect father and wants to give good things to His children.

I know that if you’re trying to sell a house, and especially if it’s been a long time, that you can get desperate. I don’t have a good answer as to why your home hasn’t sold yet. Right now, I pray that you will seek God, and that He will give you wisdom and comfort, and also that He would lift this burden from you. I’ve got nothing against St Joseph, but when it comes to who has the real power, remember that it’s God who is in control, and He has a plan.

If you really want to sell your house, ask God for it to sell, hire the best realtor you can find, and trust God.