“Ask and keep on asking and it will be given to you;,,,” [Matthew 7:7]
Are you an ask-er? Do you keep on asking? Do you receive? Do you know HOW to ask?
“Therefore let us [with privilege] approach the throne of grace [that is, the throne of God’s gracious favor] with confidence and without fear …” [Hebrews 4:16]
Now the what…
“You ask [God for something] and do not receive it, because you ask with wrong motives …”[James 4:3]
Those 3 verses give askers all they need to know if their asking is according to the will of God and whether or not they receive what they ask for. I think there are those who don’t ask because they don’t feel they should… or don’t know how to ask… or don’t know what it is they need to ask… or even when they should ask. The when is somewhat obvious – when the need arises. But why is it that we stop ourselves from asking? If it’s important to us, then why should we hesitate?
Maybe you have these points well in hand… is there something else that may be missing? Such as: Do you have your expect-or on? Are you listening? Starting with expecting. Do you expect the Lord to answer your ask? Is your expect-or on high? Are you looking only for your answer to your ask? How are you expecting? Is it an issue of ‘time’? Have you checked scripture to discover if your answer is there? The Bible IS our manual for life and living. All these questions are meant to get our frame of reference in place. We will never receive if we don’t think the Lord will answer.
Next. Are we listening. Is the Lord answering our request, our ask and giving us our needed answer? Is He telling us that He’s already answered out need? Do we stop long enough in what we’re saying and doing to actually… listen? Do we know of similar requests, either ours or what we’ve read in scripture, and the answers that have come? Do we remember His responses? If not, then we know what we need to do in order to hear what He’s saying.
Asking is something I think the Lord wants us to do. It’s not that He doesn’t already know AND care. There’s a purpose in asking. Do you see and understand this? One of the ‘attributes’ of asking is that it no longer is just a thought, unspoken, but now we see what it is we are thinking, say what it is we are wanting, and know if it’s according to His will. The Lord knows and now so do we. I never believe that the Lord doesn’t answer prayer, requests, He tells us that our ‘Yes’ should be yes and our ‘No’ should be no (Matthew 5:37). Why would He act differently?
Asking is important on so many levels. And our when, where, how, what, who of asking is crucial. I do believe that the more we ask, and stay around to hear the answer, the more we grow in confidence because we have grown in asking. Just know you will always have the answer.
