03/16/2019 Modified on 03/22/2019 Ask and receive. Mat 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. Luk 11:9-10 “So I say to you: 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. 3 things God revealed to me on what to remember when asking God. 1. Do not simply ask but ask in Prayer. a. Mat 21:22 ...If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” 2. Do not doubt. a. Jam 1:5-8 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. 3. Obey God’s commandments... a. 1 Jhn 3:21-23 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Asking and receiving is like a child asking something from his mother/father. The parents knows what his child’s intention in asking for something. If the he parent sees that what his/her child asks for is justifiable and the motivation behind it is pure it would be given. But if the parent does not see that it does not help his/her child in any way or the motivation behind it is not good, it would not be given. Another factor is if his/her child is obedient and does what is pleasing to his/her parent it would be given as a reward rather than something asked and received. When is the time that you would not get what you have asked for? Jam 4:2-3 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. This means that if your intention/motive is not in line with God’s plans or just to glorify the flesh, it would not be given.
Motives of the heart. 1co 4:4-5 It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God. The LORD searches our heart. 1ch 28:9 “And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.
Jer 17:10 “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.”