ASK

 

A few months ago I was sitting outside with our five year old grandson. We had just finished eating and I was having a piece of cake and he was just sitting there watching me eat it.  He is a little shy and I wanted to teach him a lesson, so I kept on eating and he kept on just sitting there watching me.  I finally broke down and asked him if wanted to share my cake.  Of course he said yes.  I told him you have to ask, if you want something you have to ask.

          Jesus told His listeners at the sermon of the mount, to ask and it will be given to you.  The Lord

wants us to come to Him with our daily needs and petitions.  He already knows what we need, but His desire is for us to come to Him in prayer and lay out our petitions before Him.  As Jesus taught His disciples to pray, part of that prayer is, give us this day our daily bread.  So we ask for the day’s provision. 

          As we ask for the Lord’s provision for the day, it is also important to ask for His wisdom in handling that daily provision.  “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.”  (James 1:5-6)  Faith is having confidence that God hears our prayers and will answer according to His will in His time.  We never demand from God but we ask in faith and God gives us that wisdom freely and liberally.  James continued in verse 7, “For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord.”  If we are not praying in faith we might as well save our breath because we will not receive from the Lord what we have asked for.

          James made the statement in James 4:2  “You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.” It is very clear what we are to do, we are to ask. However, we are to ask with a right heart attitude as verse 3 explains. "You ask and you do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it one your pleasures."

         Have a wonderful week asking in faith with a right heart attitude and see what great things the Lord will do.

Pastor Marty