“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, he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks
for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how
to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven
give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:7-11)
God is so
excited to do this for us, he sealed his promise with an exclamation point.
It shall be given to you, you will
find, a door will be opened to you. But sometimes we ask often and yet do not
receive. At those times, it does not seem the Lord cares enough to give what we
ask. We question whether we have sin in our lives or whether we are not good
enough.
I think many of us have battled with
this issue. While we have many testimonies of the times the Lord has come
through for us, we’ve all had times in which we didn’t get the answers we
thought we needed. This shakes our faith.
A missionary named Bob lived by
faith. Whenever the Lord sent him on a mission, Bob travelled by train. He
waited at the station until the Lord provided a ticket in some way or another.
For example, another passenger once discovered he could not take his trip after
all, and he gave his ticket to Bob.
Then one day, Bob waited until all
the trains left. This saddened him, and he went home asking the Lord why this
happened, since he was so sure he had heard correctly.
The Lord told him to go back to the
station the following day, which he did. The same thing happened. When Bob
questioned the Lord about this, He asked him whether he would trust Him again.
The next day he trusted the Lord again and the Lord provided.
Of the many reasons prayer seems not
to be answered, one is definitely the testing of our faith.
You want
something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you
want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When
you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may
spend what you get on your pleasures. (James 4:2, 3)
James is not known for beating around
the bush. He clearly states one of the reasons we do not receive. So how must
we ask in order to receive? How do we know we have the right motives?
“This is
the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to
his will, he hears us. And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know
that we have what we asked of him,” (1 John 5:14,15).
We
must know God’s will before we can ask according to it. This is where many
Christians make a huge mistake. The only Person who knows what God wants is God
himself. Yet many Christians try to obtain His will from other people. We ask
the pastor what he thinks God’s will is for our lives. We run to prophets and
line up in the prayer line, hoping that someone will prophesy over our lives.
Prophecy is good, but we must remember that it is either a confirmation of what
the Lord has already told us or preparation for what God is going to tell us
in detail later. Once the Lord informed me through a
revelation of 1 Timothy 4:13-16 that my job is to teach: “Until I come, devote
yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do
not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the
body of elders laid their hands on you. Be diligent in these matters; give
yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your
life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save
both yourself and your hearers.”
In this rhema word, “I” represented
Jesus. Confirming this rhema was a prophecy I received years before, as well as
the overwhelming desire to teach and the gift of teaching.
Knowing this will of God for my life,
if I ask for a sports car, I probably won’t receive it, because what advantage
will a sports car have for my calling? But if I ask for a good computer, I will
receive it, and if I ask for opportunities to preach, they will come. A man who
works with street children will do better with a van than a luxury car. God’s
will is specific. An older van might be better than a sparkling new one, since
the latter will stand out too much in poor areas. To be continued.
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