The word 'ask' is in God's Word several times and most of the time it is in reference to prayer.
Prayer: Is a relationship thing. Its us having a conversation with our God. A conversation includes talking and listening. Sometimes we are talking and sometimes we are just listening to hear God's direction through the Holy Spirit.
As a child I learned a neat acronym for prayer. P.R.A.Y. stand for Praise (give thanks), Repent (if you are unsure of any wrongs, ask God to reveal them to you and remember we all mess up daily. We daily need Him!), Ask (ask for God to meet your needs, ask requests for others and remember to ask for things that are correct according to God's word), and finally Yield (yield to His direction and wait upon the Lord, listening to Him).
While studying the word ask I came across a scripture about our Great God that reveals His desire to hear and give.
Psalms 145:13-21
Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and your dominion endures through all generations.
The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises
and faithful in all he does.
The Lord upholds all who fall
and lifts up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all look to you,
and you give them their food at the proper time.
You open your hand
and satisfy the desires of every living thing.
and faithful in all he does.
The Lord upholds all who fall
and lifts up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all look to you,
and you give them their food at the proper time.
You open your hand
and satisfy the desires of every living thing.
The Lord is righteous in all his ways
and faithful in all he does.
The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;
he hears their cry and saves them.
The Lord watches over all who love him,
but all the wicked he will destroy.
and faithful in all he does.
The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;
he hears their cry and saves them.
The Lord watches over all who love him,
but all the wicked he will destroy.
My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord.
Let every creature praise his holy name
for ever and ever.
Let every creature praise his holy name
for ever and ever.
Our God desires to be close to us, for us to know Him and for us to desire to be His righteous ones. He is near when we call to him in truth; we must open up ourselves honestly before Him and not hide any part of ourselves from Him. Truly He knows all anyways so why do we think we can hide sin from Him? He wants to fulfill our desires but we also must fear (respect, be reverent and obey) Him. The Lord watches over those who love Him and if we truly LOVE Him we will not knowingly, habitually and willingly continue in things we know are against His word. Instead we will pray for His help to overcome, we will learn His word on our sin and on overcoming and we will strive to change into a person more like our Savior. From this scripture we also see that God desires our praise and thanksgiving for who He is, for His grace that doesn't push us away and for all the blessings He gives us daily.
God wants us to talk to Him about the details of our lives and He wants us to ask! This is shown in the following scriptures (read carefully: there are keys to life in these words).
Matthew 21:22
And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
Luke 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."
John 11:22
But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.
John 14:12-14
Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.
Ephesians 3:20-21
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
James 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
James 4:2-3
You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. 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.
Lots to process there and lots to search our hearts about.
Sometimes we don't have because we simply 'don't ask', other times it is because our heart is not right and focused on God's will and other times it is just because what you are asking takes time. God is a gentleman and will not push Himself on someone. So when you pray for Salvation for a person it may take time. Time to put everything in place, time to persuade another person to witness God's love and power to them and time to change their heart towards God. Waiting on God is part of asking! I know as a parent there are many times my child asks for something I would like to give them and they are ready to receive but at that moment I cannot give it to them because of circumstances that take time to prepare.
Take some time today and everyday to talk with God! Tell Him whats on your heart instead of running to others. Its ok to show Him you are frustrated or angry about things around you...that is showing the 'truth' about how you feel. But then allow Him to work on you and change things that need to be changed. The closer we get ourselves to God the more we will know His leading when it comes. The more intimate details of our inner workings we share with Him the more He is able to work in our lives. Also I would suggest to you that a few times a year you don't just take a few minutes to talk with God but hours, bask in His presence, and open yourself up to what He has planned!
~Rachel~
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