Ask and Receive

Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and ye shall find; Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.  Matthew 7:7 (King James Version)

What a wonderful God we have and what wonderful promises fill the pages of the Bible.

When we read promises such as this, we sense a world of power flowing strong just beyond our reach, but the Lord who is that river and controls that power is reaching out to us and offering us to have part in it.

It is amazing to think that such wonder, such blessings are ours for the taking.  This is so true, yet we haven’t begun to understand all that it means to us nor just where it will take us.  Some things are wrapped up still in the unfathomable wisdom of our Creator and we will just have to wait to find out what surprises and wonders are yet to come.

However many of the promises are for us to enjoy right here and right now.  The text today is just one such text.

Beautiful, isn´t it?

All we need to do is just ask, and it will be given.  If we look, we will find, and if we knock, the doors will be flung open for us.

Hooray!  Hallelujah!  Start the celebration!

But wait!  Just what are we talking about?

Does this mean if I want more money, all I got to do is ask for it?  Maybe I wanted to get out of some situation that I got myself into or there is something that I desire really bad.  Does this mean that I can have my dreams made true with the simple little price of just asking?

Well, it is very true that when the Lord moves in the life of a person who is genuinely turning to Him is just such a way.  But let us examine it a little further.

If you turn to the Lord and are seeking Him or begging of Him for selfish earthly desires, it may very well be that your prayers are answered in the end.  But the final prize will not be that closeness with Him.  We need something, so we do draw near, but the drawing near that we do on our part is only a means to an end.  When we go to the Lord to get some by-product, it is only the by-product that we receive.

However, the promise does stand for the one who turns from his or her worldly intentions.  Those who look beyond their needs and desires here on earth and seek and burn for eternal treasures, when they ask it is sure to be given them.

There is a slight turn here from the common and popular way of reading this text but it is significant and deserves our praying over it.  Bring this matter before your God and do not rest on your earthly powers of judgment.  Ask in all honesty if the thing He was speaking about here was actually Himself.

Listen to hear if Jesus was not stating in a special way, that to those who truly wanted the things of the Spirit, it could and would be given to them.

For that kind of seeker, and for that kind of selflessness, I think we will find all kinds of showers of blessings.  Perhaps even greater things would be given in this life to the ones who were not looking for these kinds of rewards.  It would greatly please God that we went to Him not for the candy that He could give us, but to draw nearer and be corrected more by that closeness.

Then how much more would He want to bless us not only in this life, but the mysterious and unending one to come.

I would like to seek that higher road.  Pray with me today that we set our hearts on Him and seek and ask for Him.  Then let’s leave it up to Him what that reward will be.  For sure it will be greater than anything we had hoped for in our fallen nature.

Answers to prayer are sure and there will always be times when we do need to pray for the Lord´s intervention.  But let´s keep our intentions upon Him and our motivations pure.  Let us not use God like a Santa Claus to get us those other things we let our hearts stray off to during our walk on earth.

To Him and for Him be all things,

Amen

Scott W