We are busy discussing Jesus' instruction in Matthew 7:7-11: “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!”
In our asking, it is our duty to consider
God’s purposes. It is wise, profitable, and righteous not to ask for those
things outside of God’s will. We read in Psalm 37:4: “Delight
yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
I once asked the Lord the meaning of
this passage, since I knew He wouldn’t give me whatever I desire. I learned
that if we delight ourselves in the Lord, enjoying an intimate relationship
with Him, considering Him to be all we need and His will to be our ultimate
desire, we will not want anything outside of His will. As a result, while we
enjoy His presence, He will place desires into our hearts, then He will give us
what we desire. Disciples whose sole desire is to do the will of the Lord will
not have a hidden agenda. They’ll ask for only what is needed to fulfill the
demands of their calling.
Recently, I confessed to my home
group that I had lost my courage and boldness in witnessing. This was a problem
I have bathed in prayer for a long time. I didn’t expect anything when I asked
the home group. I just felt like talking about it.
Delores, one of the ladies attending
that night, urged the pastor to lead the group in prayer for my renewed courage
and boldness. He almost let the opportunity pass by, but by the end of the
meeting, Delores demanded that we pray for me. Strangely, it seemed like a
matter of life and death for her. So they prayed for me and I accepted it as
usual.
The next day, I felt courageous, as
if nothing could stop me. I was on fire for the Lord again and testified
without fear at every opportunity in the radical way I used to. I spoke to some
Muslims, and the Lord gave me the most creative approaches. I was a new man.
Intrigued, I
thought and prayed about the reason for the difference. I had prayed for a long
time with no results, but when Delores urged, it happened. I was then led to 1
John 5:14, 15 as we discussed earlier. Delores heard the Lord’s prompting. She
might not have heard specific words, but the message from the Lord was
probably: “It is time for prayer now! It is My will that you should pray for
Henry, because I want to do what he asked for.”
The angel has stirred the water, and
we need to jump in now to receive our answer to prayer. We need to pray when
the Lord tells us to pray, how He tells us to, and about the topic He tells us
to. If we pray when, what, and how God wills, we will receive what we ask for.
The key is to be in close touch with
the Lord (intimacy) and in right standing with Him (obedience), so we can hear
what He expects of us. If in everything we do exactly as He wishes, we will see
more results, experience more of His power, and save a lot of time and prayer
energy.
Jesus said that if we love Him we
will obey Him. He spent many nights hearing from His Father about how to
perform His ministry tasks the following day. I believe Father told Him to put
mud on the blind man’s eyes, and to pensively write on the ground when the
woman was accused of adultery, and to tell Peter to catch a fish and find a
coin in its mouth. He did not necessarily hear beforehand, but certainly did
when He acted. To be continued.
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