ASK AND IT WILL BE GIVEN TO YOU

(Day 33)

ask... it will be given to you

What do babies do when they need something?  When a babies are hungry, or in pain, or need a diaper change, or feel alone, they cry. Crying comes natural for babies; nobody taught them to cry, they do it naturally. When children learn to speak, they are taught to ask for the things they want instead of crying to request them. As they grow and mature, young people learn to distinguish among the things their parents will give them and those they will deny them, and they learn to ask accordingly.

The same principle applies to our spiritual life. At first, we only know how to plead and cry so that our needs are met, or our desires fulfilled. But as we mature spiritually we learn to ask according to God’s will.

(1 John 5:14-15)  And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

(John 15:7)  If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

During the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus explained that if we want to receive, we must first ask.

(Matthew 7:7-8)  Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

Why don’t we receive? James tells us there are two reasons why we don’t receive: because we ask wrongly or simply because we don’t ask.

(James 4:1-3)  What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

Every loving parent wants to please his child, yet he doesn’t give him everything he asks for, either because he can’t or because it is not in the child’s best interest. A child asks, but sometimes he doesn’t receive everything he asks for because he asks wrongly. But if he asked for that which is righteous and good, it is likely he would receive it, if it is possible. We must trust God this way, knowing that he is good and generous.

(1 John 3:21-22)  Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

Why don’t we ask more of God? Many times it is because, deep in our heart, we don’t believe that God is good and he wants to please us. We don’t know God as a loving and generous Father. But Jesus said:

(Matthew 7:9-11) Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

(Psalms 145:17-19)  The LORD is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works. The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them.

What does God expect from us when we pray and ask? FAITH! He expects us to believe in Him.

(James 1:6-8)  But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

(Mark 11:22-24)  And Jesus answered them, "Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

The Lord doesn’t only expects us to believe that he is God Almighty, but also that He is Our Father who loves us and wishes the best for us, and delights in pleasing us.

PRAYER

Lord, you are righteous in all your ways and kind in all your works. You are near to all who call on you, to all who call on you in truth. You will fulfill the desire of those who fear you; you also hear their cry and save them. Lord, I will call on you and pray to you, because I know you will hear me. I will seek you and find you, when I seek you with all my heart.

And this is the confidence I have toward you, that if we ask anything according to your will you will hear us. Lord, I know that you will give me the desires of your heart. I don’t want to ask out of vanity, but according to your will. Then I will be able to ask for that which is good, that which is appropriate and that which brings blessings.

Lord, I trust you, I am still before you and wait patiently for you. For I know the plans you have for me are plans for welfare and not for evil, to give me a future and a hope.

[Psalms 145:17-19; 1 John 5:14-15; Psalms 37:4-7; Jeremiah 29:11-13]