Articles > Solutions: > Ask and You Shall Receive

Ask and You Shall Receive

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.  Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?  If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”¹

 

I recently heard a young man telling of a time in his childhood when, every week, his father would treat him and his sister to ice-cream at the local shop. He recalled how, on this particular day, he had asked for a single scoop of his favorite flavor and was excitedly savoring his cold, creamy treat when he happened to look over and see that his sister had TWO scoops AND a waffle cone! Immediately the joy he had felt was squashed by jealousy. He angrily turned to his dad and said, “How come I only got one scoop and she got two?” Realizing now that he had been an ungrateful child, he recalled his father’s confused look as he answered, “Because you only asked for one and she asked for two. I would be happy to get you two, but you never asked for that; how was I supposed to know it was what you wanted?” He understood, in that moment, that wanting something is not the same as asking for something.

  

The situation is quite similar when it comes to our Heavenly Father. We miss out on His generosity because we don’t know how to ask. There are some things that He would love to give us and to show us, but because we conform ourselves with a single scoop of His blessing, we don’t ever get to enjoy the double portion of His goodness. Matthew 7 says, “ASK, and it will be given to you.” God knows the desires of our heart and He sees our needs before we even know them ourselves, yet He patiently waits for you and me to take that step of faith and believe, with our whole heart, that He will give us what we ask for. James 4 says, You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly... if what we ask will bring glory to you instead of Him to whom it is due, it is more than likely that you may keep on waiting to receive. But when you ask in a way that pleases the Lord and Humble yourselves before the Lord, then he will exalt you and you just might get two scoops of His blessings after all!

 

Suggested Prayer: Dear Father God, you are so good to me. Your goodness makes me feel ashamed to ask more of you, yet you delight in blessing your children. Lord, allow me to be like you; to love and serve others as you have. Let your desires be my desires as well. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

 

1.    Matthew 7:7-11 (ESV).

 

 

Today’s Encounter was written by: Veronica B.