Ask For What You Want

There have been many times in my life when it seemed I was existing rather than living. Yes, I was alive and had a pulse but I was not really living and my fruits showed this. Rather than making a difference and working for something, I was only going with the flow of life or what emotion I felt at the time but this is something that I see too often from too many people whether a Christian or nonbeliever.

This is an aspect of life that confuses many people because they do not clearly understand how God works. Obviously, God works completely different than we the people do but too many people try to put God inside a box so they can better comprehend Him and the problem—one of the problems—in doing this is God does not fit into a box. He is not limited by time, space, or matter as we are and when we do try to make things easier, we become more misguided.

Before someone says that I do not know what I am talking about, keep reading because I used to be one of these people. Rather than reading scripture and learning about God, I trusted the preacher on television or an article online or a friend who attended church. What usually happens is we hear something or come up with an idea that seems reasonable (whether it is or not) and because it seems to fit, we subscribe to it but scripture is in place for a reason and if we do not go to it as a way of learning, we will be absent of understanding.

There is an old saying “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink” and this is especially true for people. Simply put, when we want something from God, we are to ask directly what we want rather than sugar-coating it. We are to ask God for what we want and then, ask God how we achieve it. Scripture reads “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:” (Matthew 7:7) but Scripture also tells us “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive” (Matthew 21:22).

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:”

–Matthew 7:7

It is not just enough to ask but when we ask, we are to believe. We are to have faith in what we ask God for, He is going to deliver. This is not always easy because our flesh is involved and all of us are in the sin nature. This has been our biggest downfall since the very beginning as our free will often goes astray from God’s perfect will. When we think about how we interact with other people, we may ask someone for something but if it’s a big request, we tiptoe around the request and size someone up before asking and try this with God but there is no reason to do so.

The confusion that many people find is they know that God already knows all things including their hearts and desires. He does and scripture tells us this: “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good” (Proverbs 15:3) and “For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things” (1 John 3:20). Many times, before we even ask our parents for something, they know what we want but they still want us to ask whether it’s a snack, a drink, permission for something, and on and on. This is God, as well.

Most people have that one person that we feel like we can tell anything to and they won’t repeat it. Maybe it’s a secret you’ve held on to for a long time or it’s something that we desire that we may think is too embarrassing for just anyone to know. This friend is a treasure but not everyone has someone like this as, let’s face it, a lot of people are shady so you do not just tell anyone everything at once. However, this is what we can do with God as He is our friend and the old hymn “What A Friend We Have In Jesus” sums this up perfectly.

Philippians 4:6 reads “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God” and Philippians 4:7 tells us why: “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Yes, God knows everything about us including the things that we have not yet done and the thoughts that we keep secret but He stills wants us to talk to Him. He still wants us to make time for Him. He still wants us to have a relationship with Him. Honestly, what a magnificent feeling it is knowing that the creator of the universe wants each of us to come to Him and open up about everything. Truly, what a great friend we have in Jesus!

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

–philippians 4:6-7