As a teenager I
used to go to the mall on weekends. I
would wash up, get dressed in my favorite jeans, and the very last thing I
would do is ask my parents for some money.
I asked for money (in
faith) that they would give me what I was asking for. I
asked with the knowledge that I would receive.
What made me so
sure that time after time the answer would be the same? What if they decided that I didn’t need money
to go to the mall, or that they had dished out enough already and I could go
without this time?
I knew that they
would never do that because of their love for me, their child, and this I was
sure of; just as we can be sure of God’s love for us. In Romans
8:38 it says “For I am convinced that neither
earth, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things
to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will
be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord.” So now we know with confidence
that God loves us, just as I was assured that my parents loved me enough to
provide for my needs.
I also spent
enough time with my parents, learning about them, so I knew how they would
react to such a request.
Shouldn’t we
approach the throne of Grace with the same confidence that we apply to others? Why then, don’t we just confidently state our
request before our Father and relax in the knowledge that is shall be done for
us? Instead, we sheepishly approach God,
make our request, then hold our breath and cross our fingers, in hopes that He
will do it for us. What kind of faith is
this? Can we even call it faith?
We ask with
timidity because we don’t spend enough time with Him, in His word, getting to
know Him and how He handles situations. Doesn’t
His word say in Matt 7:7 ”Ask and it shall be given to you”? He said SHALL be given, not maybe you’ll
receive if I feel like it. “SHALL” is
our assurance that if we ask (in accordance with His will) then He will hear
our petitions and honor our request.
Does that mean if
you ask for the winning lottery numbers, you will receive them? NO!
How do I know? The Bible says in 1Timothy 6:10 “For the love
of money is a root of all sorts of evil”.
That’s pretty clear. We can safely
assume that He’s not going whisper the winning numbers in our ears as we sleep
because He knows that we will eventually end up relying on our money to provide
for us and not our Creator. The second
half of 1 Timothy 6:10 reads like this “…and
some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves
with many griefs”. We know that
He seeks a relationship with us, so He would never allow something that would
only turn us away from Him.
Knowing God’s will
for us is not difficult. It takes a bit
of determination and commitment on our part though, just as learning to ride a
bike takes determination and a commitment to stick with it. God hides nothing from us that can help
us. It’s all in His word, but we must
choose to read His word if we want to know Him, so that we can approach Him,
not with a spirit of timidity but boldness, in the knowledge that what we are
asking for is indeed His will and it SHALL be done for us, just as He says.
We are all given
choices to make. Every day we are faced
with millions of choices, whether we realize it or not. We choose if we are going to get out of bed
in the morning. We choose what we are
going to wear and eat, and drink. We
choose what activities we are going to do, and we even choose how we react to
certain situations. We may choose so
fast that is seems like the choice was not ours to make, but I promise you, we
chose it!
So with all those
choices, why do we not choose to spend time with our creator, the Living
God? After all, He made some choices on
our behalf. He chose to bring us to
life. He chose our parents and our
circumstances that brought us to Him.
Why not consider choosing God when we have a moment of free time? Instead of watching t.v. or going on the
internet, or reading that novel that we’ve been wanting to finish, why not read
God’s word and get to know Him and how He operates in our lives? That way, when we ask of Him we can approach
Him with bold confidence that we are asking in accordance with His will, and we
shall indeed receive.
Therefore, let us
approach our Father with confidence and thank Him for hearing our petitions and
sending His answer Henceforth, just as Jesus did when calling Lazarus out of
the grave, when he said in John 11:41
“…Father, I thank You that You have heard Me”. Jesus had the full assurance that His
Father in Heaven heard His petition, and it was going to be done for Him.
Matthew 7:7-8 (ASV)
“Ask, and it will be give to you; seek, and you will find;
knock and it will be opened to you. For
everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it
will be opened”.
* Note that He says everyone who
asks, receives, not just some of us.
He’s not talking here about the “goodie goodies” who are the teacher’s
pet. His word is truth for EVERYONE and
that means you and me!
Mark 11:24
“Therefore, I say to you, all things for which you pray and
ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you”.
Hebrews 4:16 "Let us then approach the Throne of Grace with confidence to receive mercy and grace to help us in our time of need". (NIV)
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