Ask and you will receive...
Matthew 7:7-8 - “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."
These are familiar words of the Lord and we often use this in our prayers and sermons to "remind the Lord" and others of this wonderful promise.
Certainly this verses give us the assurance of answered prayer. In fact Hebrews 4:16 encourages us to "Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."
And as we pray we persevere in our prayer by "keep on asking, keep on seeking and keep on knocking." We pray according to His will and in faith believing that God answers the cries of His people. God will certainly answer our prayers. This is our part.
But this does not mean that we can twist God's hand and demand for everything under the sun. That is why I do not subscribe to the "name it and claim it philosophy".
Let us not forget that God is also sovereign. There will be times when the answers will not be according to what we want but may sometimes be the reverse of what we have been asking. These are the times when we scream..."Why God!!!!"
God knows what is best for us and He knows what we need.
God did not answer David's prayer for him to built a temple. David was a man after God's heart and look at the many prayers of his that God answered. But God did not answer this important request that would have been a perfect epitaph - "He built God's House". Neither did God did not answer Paul's pray when he asked to remove the thorn. Paul was the greatest missionary of all time and yet God did not answer him. And God did not answer many of my own prayers. In retrospect, I am thankful that God did not answer those prayers because if He had, I would have lived a comfortable life but I would not have fulfilled His Kingdom purpose for me.
When things does not happen the way we want, the natural tendency is to fret, be angry and even go into despondency.
But the Word and experience teaches us, in times like this it's always prudent to be submissive to the Lord and like Job say, "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”
We can reply on God's goodness as verse 11 tells us – “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”
God will always give good, the very best for His children, even if He withholds our request. The God we worship is a personal God who has our interests at heart. He sees the end from the beginning.
So how should we pray?
I am convinced that when we pray, we pray with all our heart, our faith and hope - "ask, seek and knock" but leave the outcome to God because if we being evil give good things to our children, how much more God, our heavenly father, knows what is best for us.
I am reminded of an old song that reminds me Jesus does all things well for me:
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