Ask and you shall receive

The privilage of the children of God

Matthew 7:7–11 NKJV

7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being 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!

Jesus used the analogy of the relationship of father and son, because we have a special privilage when it comes to asking God becuase we are his Children.

The devil will try to cause us to doubt our privilage as sons of the living God.

Galatians 3:26-27 “26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”

Romans 8:31-32 “31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”

God wan’ts us to ask him

Parents usually don’t ask their children to ask them to give them anything, somethime even their consistanly coming to ask us can be a bothersome.

However this is not so with God.

John 16:23–24 NKJV

23 “And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

It seems that Jesus was bothered by the fact that his desciples did not ask anything of him as of yet.

God is bothered when his children don’t ask him? so he tells us to ask.

James 4:2 “2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.”

God is saying to you today Ask! is there anything you desire from God Ask!

Knowing what God can do when we come to ask God.

Ephesians 3:20–21 NKJV

20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

If we are not aware what God is capable in giving and doing for his children we can limit God in what we ask.

The measure of what God is going to give us is according to the measure we ask of Him.

2 Kings 13:14–20 NKJV

14 Elisha had become sick with the illness of which he would die. Then Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over his face, and said, “O my father, my father, the chariots of Israel and their horsemen!” 15 And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and some arrows.” So he took himself a bow and some arrows. 16 Then he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” So he put his hand on it, and Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands. 17 And he said, “Open the east window”; and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot”; and he shot. And he said, “The arrow of the Lord’s deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria; for you must strike the Syrians at Aphek till you have destroyed them.” 18 Then he said, “Take the arrows”; so he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground”; so he struck three times, and stopped. 19 And the man of God was angry with him, and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it! But now you will strike Syria only three times.” 20 Then Elisha died, and they buried him. And the raiding bands from Moab invaded the land in the spring of the year.

Elisha revealed to Joash that the arrows represents the arrows of the delvirence of God from the syrians

Elisha told Joash to strike but did not tell him how many times to strive.

God will tell us to aks him but he won’t tell us how much, he does not put a limit to what he his willing to give or do. We are the ones who detemines how much God is going to give us.

Therefore, when you ask, ask him according to measure of his grace.

The role of persitance in asking God.

Genesis 28:10–20 NKJV

10 Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. 12 Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. 14 Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.” 16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!” 18 Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. 19 And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously. 20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on,

there is a big disparity between what God is willing to give jacob and what jacob was satisfied in asking God with.

Sometimes we are so pitiful because we have poor mindset in that we can be satifsfied with so little, when God is willing to give us so much more.

Jacob learns what God is wilkling and capable of Giving when he gave him what he asked with greater measure that what he expected.

So he decided to go all the and get every blessing he could from God.

Jacob wrestles with God

Genesis 32:22–32 (NKJV)

22 And he arose that night and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of Jabbok.

23 He took them, sent them over the brook, and sent over what he had.

24 Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day.

25 Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him.

26 And He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.” But he said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!”

27 So He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob.”

28 And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.”

29 Then Jacob asked, saying, “Tell me Your name, I pray.” And He said, “Why is it that you ask about My name?” And He blessed him there.

30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.”

31 Just as he crossed over Penuel the sun rose on him, and he limped on his hip.

32 Therefore to this day the children of Israel do not eat the muscle that shrank, which is on the hip socket, because He touched the socket of Jacob’s hip in the muscle that shrank.

We must to not let go of what we want from God until we recive it.

The wrestling is being persistant through all kinds of circumstances until we get a response from God.

Luke 11:5–10 NKJV

5 And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? 8 I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs. 9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

The story of the widow in Luke 18. teaches this important truth.

Knowing God’s will

There is a role that God’s will plays in what we receive from God.

1 John 5:14–15 NKJV

14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

How do we know what is God’s will.

General understanding of God’s will.

General will of God ( applies to all) (salvation, sanctifciation, etc)

Specific will of God ( idnividuals) (God has sepcific will for each individual)

Romans 12:1–2 NKJV

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

As we separate ourselves more from the world and come closer to God, and as our mind is transformed by the word and spirit of God we will be able to more clearly discern the will of God. What is accpetable and what is perfect will of God.

This responsibility rest upon each individual.

The simple answer to problem of confusion when knwoing what we ask of God is his will or not.

Matthew 8:1–3 (NKJV)

1 When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him.

2 And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”

3 Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

If it is your will, you can do this,

if it is your will, i know and bleive you can give me this,

If you aks him in such a way, he will let you know if he is willing or not. and if he is willing he will respond to your need and desire.

Don’t let that lack of knowledge of his will keep you from asking.