Ask and you shall Receive

1. "Ask and you shall Receive" – 25th February 2-17
“Whichofyou,if your sonasks for bread, will givehim a stone? 10
Orif he asks for a fish,will give him
a snake? (Matthew7:9-10).
In the Greektext,we have three imperativesinthe presenttense (ask,seek,andknock).Theyare used
ina continuoussense.Thismeansthatyoudon’tjustask once and that’sit.In otherwords,youkeepon
askingand youwill receiveit.Youkeeponseekingandyouwill find.Youkeeponknocking,knocking,
knockinguntil finallythe dooropens. Of course youcannotkeeponknockingsimplytoaskfora cookie,
but somethingyoumayreallyneed…like yourneighborsassistance of inamuch greatersense…Gods
assistance!. Godisalwaysat home.Don’twalkaway. We need tokeepknockingatthe door of heaven
until itopens.Godwantsus to persevere inprayer,toprayoftenandwithintensity. Whatis a
perseveringprayer?Itisbeingsoobsessedwithgettingsomethingthatyounevergive upuntil God
responds!.Butwe mustrememberasthe apostle Jamesstates: 3
Whenyouask,you do notreceive,
because youask with wrong motives,that you mayspend what youget on yourpleasures” (James4:1-
2).
Jesusillustratesthe statement"Askandyoushall Receive"through severalparables.Take forexample
the parable of the friendatmidnight whichwe canreadin Luke 11:5-8. The story isabout a man who
was traveling.Itwasmidnightandhe neededsomefood.Sohe knockedatthe door of a friend’shome
and askedforsome bread.Hisfriendwasnot eagerat all to helphimbecause itwasveryinconvenient.
But because of hispersistence inasking,he wasable toconvince hisfriendtoprovide some foodfor
him. We can readthisoccurrence and whatJesussaid:“I tell you, even though he will not get upand
give youthe bread because offriendship,yet because ofyour shamelessaudacityhe will surely get up
and giveyou as muchas you need”(Luke 11: 8). Jesusisstatingthat God,there isno inconvenienttime,
and that unlike inthe parable He isalwaysreadytogive to the personwhoperseveres.
The assurance of an answerto our prayerisbasedon the fact that God We mustknow that God’sway of
thinkingiswaydifferentfromourwayof thinking.Whenachild asksforthe same thingoverandover
again,we get annoyed.We say‘no,’buthe keepsonmakingthe same request.We feel annoyedbyhis
persistence.Butwhenyoucome to the Bible,itisotherwayaround.God lovesthe persistentpeople
whonevergive up.James1:5, “If any of youlacks wisdom,youshouldask God,whogives generously
to all without findingfault,anditwill be givento you”.We shouldnotthinkthatwe are troublingGod
whenwe keepaskingHim.Because we canlearnwhenJamestellsusthatGod giveswithoutreproach.
In otherwords,He will neversay,‘Whydoyou come back all the time?’AsChristianswe shouldnotbe
afraidto ask God because He givesgenerouslyandwithoutreproach…toHischildrenwhofaithfullyasks
fromHim!
isour Father.That is whyJesustellsusabouta situationinwhichachildcomesto hisfatherwitha
request.Wouldyoumockhimby givingsomethingthatlookswhathe asksbut isinfact totally
different?We canlearnfrom Matthew7:9-12,“Whichof you,if yourson asks for bread,will give him a
stone? 10
Or ifhe asks for a fish,will give hima snake? 11
Ifyou, then, thoughyouare evil,know how to
give goodgiftsto your children,how much more will your Father inheaven give goodgiftsto those
who ask him!12
Soin everything,do to others what you wouldhave them do to you,for this sumsup
the Law andthe Prophets”.
Withthiscomesthisargument.If you then,beingevil,know how togive goodgiftstoyour children, how
much more will yourFatherwhoisinheavengive goodthingstothose whoask Him!This‘how much
more’argumentisoftenusedinthe Bible.Itstressesthe pointthatif somethingistrue inthislittle
instance,thenhowmuchmore so inthe larger case. If as sinful individualswe cangive goodgiftstoour

2. children,howmuchmore will the heavenlyFather,whoisnotevil but whois perfectlygood,give good
thingsto Hischildrenwhentheyprayto Him! Thisdoesnotmeaneverythingwe askbutas the
omnipresentGodwhatHe knowsthatis Good! The nextquestionwouldbe whatare the good things?
Jesuswasreferringmore onspiritual thingsthantotemporal things “thatwe mayconsideras Good!.
Anotherimportantquestionis:“DoesGodalwaysanswerourprayers?From experience,we knowthat
our requestsare notalwaysgranted.Jesusisnotteachingthatwhatever we desire,Godisgoingto
provide.Itwouldnotbe reasonable tobelievethatthe promise ‘Askandyouwill have,’isauniversal
and unconditionalpromise.The Bible isnotsomethingthatworksautomatically.Youpressabuttonand
the door opens.Itdoesn’tworklike that.Tryto imagine thatby yourprayer,any wishwouldbe granted
and anydream wouldcome true.Itwouldturnprayer intosomethingmagical like Aladdinandhis
magical lamp.Everytime he wantssomething,he justrubshislampanda genie popsupandsays,‘Here
I am. What do youwantme to do foryou?’Obviouslythatisnotthe properway to fellowshipwithGod.
It wouldturnHim intoour slave whoappearsinstantlyeverytime we rubourlittle prayerlamp.
In additiontothis,tryto thinkof the impossible pressure thatwouldbe onyourshouldersif itwas
certainthat youget everythingthatyouask like thatmagiclamp.Whenand where doesone stopasking
fromthe magical lamp? If that waspossible,youwouldneverneedtoaskGodfor anything.Martin
Lloyd-Jonesinhiscommentaryonthe Sermononthe Mount says this. ‘IthankGod that He isnot
preparedtodo anythingthatI may have the chance to askHim, andI say that as the resultof my own
past experience.Inmypast life I,like all others,whichatthat time Iwantedverymuchand whichI
believedwere the verybestthingsforme.Butnow,standingat thisparticularjuncture inmylife and
lookingback,Isay that I am profoundlygratefultoGodthat He didnot grant me certainthingsfor which
I asked,andthat He shutcertaindoors inmy face.’
Here is a man whounderstoodthathumanwisdomistoofrail to cope withthe burdenof a universal
and unconditionalanswertoprayer. OuromnipresentGodonlyhasthe wisdomtoknow fullywhich
giftsare good for usand whichare not. In our minute knowledgewe thinkotherwise! AsChristianswe
needtolearnthat if we ask for good things,He givesthem.If we askfor thingswhichare not good - and
there are many waysinwhichtheymay not be good - thenHe deniesthem.OnlyGodknowsthe
difference. All thismeansthatwhenyouaskand God answersyou,youhave a spiritual experience.
Whenyouknock and God opens,youhave a spiritual experience.Youexperience somethingthatGod
has done.