Ask and You Shall Receive

Luke Chapter Eleven

9: And I say unto you Ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you 

10: For every one that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened 

11: If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father will he give him a stone or if he ask a fish will he for a fish give him a serpent 

12: Or if he shall ask an egg will he offer him a scorpion 

13: If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him. 

     I've read these scriptures and heard them preached so many times especially by people who use God's promises to ask for things that we don't really need. Most times they are even taken out of context and people try to use them as a blank check to get anything they want. I must admit I was guilty of this myself before I was established in God's love and realized that as a true Christian it is never supposed to be about me, but about my neighbors and the lost.

     To prove this point I'd like to go back a few scriptures and let you see the whole story behind these verses. Let's start with verse five.

5: And he said unto them Which of you shall have a friend and shall go unto him at midnight and say unto him Friend lend me three loaves 

6: For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me and I have nothing to set before him. 

7: And he from within shall answer and say Trouble me not the door is now shut and my children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give thee. 

8: I say unto you though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. 

     This is the key. The person in this story was not asking for himself. He had a friend come from a journey and he had nothing to set before him to eat. It didn't matter that he himself had no food in the house. You notice it was midnight and if there was no food in the house so this man probably went to sleep hungry. His hunger was not important but when his friend came and he was hungry, something had to be done.

     The word importunity used here means that you are asking and refusing to take no for an answer. Of course that's where we should be when it comes to the welfare of others. We as a church need to quit being so greedy and start caring more for the troubles of others and not our own. James chapter five verse sixteen says it this way:

Confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that ye may be healed The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 

     Notice it says pray for each other. I have a feeling the reason we don't see many answered prayers is because we are too busy praying for ourselves and not for others. James said that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. This righteous man is not praying for himself but for others. That's the way we should do it. We should fervently pray for each other. We should do just as we read above in Luke, we should be asking, seeking and knocking but not for ourselves. The scriptures plainly said that our Father will give us what we need and He knows how to give good gifts to His children.

     Here is another clue. We must be just like this man in the parable. We must approach God in faith in respect and honor knowing that it is His will to give us what we need for whomever we are praying for and we should set ourselves so that we will keep pressing in until we get our answer. I believe that we will begin to walk in these things. This is true Christianity and I believe that Jesus is working in us to bring us to where He is, so that we may truly walk in love like He did. He will bring us to the point that we would even lay down our lives for each other.

     We know that God is greater than the friend in this story because he knows our needs in advance and has what we need already waiting so that when we pray for others he answers right away. We also know that God never sleeps or slumbers so we can go to him anytime day or night.

     There is also a double meaning to this parable just like there is in most parables that Jesus taught. We need to stay full of the bread of heaven and always have something in our house to feed the spiritually hungered. We need to ask, seek and knock and be continually filled with the Holy Spirit every day. He's the good gift that was taught in this parable. We should always have plenty of His presence ready to serve to all who are hungry.

     I encourage you today. Let's pray for each other, I'm praying for you, will you pray for me? I'll ask, seek and knock each day on your behalf that our Father will pour out his greatest blessings on you. Will you do the same for me?

     I want to thank all of you who read these words that I write. It encourages me so much to see how many are reading these posts on the website. I really do appreciate it and I am thankful for all the kind comments and the re-posting. Thanks again for all your kindness and may you always have bread in your house for anyone who is hungry.

Until next time,

Grow rich in His grace,

I love you all,

Michael

For more information please visit our website at:

michaelottministries.org