Reflecting the SON: Ask and it shall be given

Showing posts with label Ask and it shall be given. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Teach Us to Pray! - God is a Giver!

Luke 11:11-13 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?

As Jesus concludes his teaching on prayer, he gives us deeper insight on the nature of God. God throughout the Bible is described as Father, because of his love, concern and giving nature towards his creation.

As a loving Father, he knows what we want. He knows what we need and furthermore he knows how to give us those things that we need. One of the criticisms that some have with God, is that some interpret their not receiving what they ask for as God not hearing or wanting to help. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

In our text today, Jesus compares how that as earthly parents, we know how to give our children what they need, so how much more does God, our creator know how to give good gifts to us.

God will not always give us what we want, but he will give us what we need. But what Jesus does not say here, I believe to be equally important. Sometimes, as a father, my child may sometimes ask for things that I know are ultimately harmful. Do I give it to her JUST because she asks. Certainly not. As a loving Father, I will give her what is best for her rather than what she asks for. I believe in this principle, Jesus is teaching the same thing. Are there times that we think we know what is best for us (but we don’t) and ask for one thing, and God will give us something different? I certainly think so. I think there are times that we mouth the words and they are as if asking for a stone because we see it as bread. What will God give us then? A stone or bread? According to Jesus God knows how to give us Good gifts....gifts that we need, rather than what we necessarily ask for.

I for one, want God to do what is best for me. Therefore I must have the faith to believe that God, as a loving Father, hears me and gives me what I need. Thank God that he does not only give me what I ask for or I would be in a world of hurt.

Reflecting His SON,

Dennis Hogan

Minister, North Hardin Church of Christ

dennis.hogan@icloud.com

North Hardin Church of Christ

1804 Sam Stewart Dr.

Radcliff, KY 40160

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Monday, March 18, 2013

Teach Us to Pray - Ask and It Shall Be Given Unto You!

Luke 11:9-10 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.

I have always found these two verses interesting. Nine out of ten times that I hear someone reference these verses they are referred to on their own out of the context of the other verses around them. That is not to say they they are “out of context”, just not in their context. However, for the purpose of this examination, we want to consider them in the context that they were originally spoken and that is: “Lord Teach us to Pray”.

My first thoughts when reading this is: Why? Why three separate statements? I see it as three levels of intensity to get what we need and want. Keep in mind that this statement is made on the heels of the parable of the neighbor at midnight. The conclusion to that lesson is that we are to ask without ceasing. This takes the asking to a whole level of intensity. Yes ask, but also seek and knock as well. As often as not, when we need help from God, there is something that we need to do to contribute to the process. Let’s take needing a job as an example. If we need to find a job, do we simply ask? Do we ONLY ask? Do we even just ask without ceasing? Not if we want to find the job. The manner in which God will aid us in finding a job is not just through asking...but rather through our seeking and knocking. If we sat on the couch all day praying but never sent out a resume, never networked with industry contacts, never looked for opening on line, our asking may be in vain. There are times that the seeking and knocking will go hand in hand with the aking

More often than not, we do not get what we ask for soon after we pray for it. So what do we do at this point? Give up? Quit asking? Certainly not. We step up the asking to seeking. We step up the seeking to knocking. When his faithful servants asks, seeks and knocks, our gracious and loving father will relent and give us what we need.