Asking God
Notes
Transcript
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
A Song of Ascents. 1 I will lift up my eyes to the hills—From whence comes my help? 2 My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, He who keeps Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; The Lord is your shade at your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, Nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. 8 The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in From this time forth, and even forevermore.
Introduction:
As we look into both of these scriptures today, we will clearly see that God loves to give us good things and desires for us to ask Him, just as we would ask our own fathers here on earth, when we want something.
But just as our earthly fathers, God wants to bless us with the things that will help us in life not hurt us.
I. Asking God demands faith.
I. Asking God demands faith.
What is faith?
Let me tell you a story:
In 1995, my wife and our three children sold our home in RI where we lived in the country.
We moved into an apartment in the inner city of Worcester to plant a church. It was culture shock and very trying.
Michelle was faithful to follow my leading from the Lord and we made the best of it.
We lived in the city for 15 years, our dream of being in the country again was just that, a dream.
When we left Worcester in 2010 to go on staff at another church in Lunenburg, we were able to lease a townhouse in Fitchburg.
The back of that townhouse faced west. Michelle, had a prayer she was holding onto. She was asking God to give us a house in the country once again.
She would come home from work, look out at the sunset everyday, and she would quote this verse -
1 I will lift up my eyes to the hills—From whence comes my help?
In 2013, we moved into our current home here in Templeton.
God answers prayer!
But to ask God without faith, is asking without expecting.
II. Faith demands persistence.
II. Faith demands persistence.
How would you describe persistence?
I will tell you, even when I didn’t think we would ever own a home again, my wife was persistent in asking.
Persistence means we never stop praying, unless God clearly says no!
17 pray without ceasing,
3 I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day,
9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers,
Many times we think God is not paying attention to us.
Because He doesn’t answer immediately, we tend to think He is ambivalent to our need, but He does care, and He will answer according to His time table not ours.
Persistence is being faithful!
Persistence is telling God that you trust Him!
Persistence is God’s way of drawing closer to Him!
III. God answers according to our need.
III. God answers according to our need.
How would you describe a need compared to a want?
God the Father makes distinctions between our wants and needs.
God the Father even distinguishes our wants from wants.
In other words, sometimes God just blesses us with things we want but don’t necessarily need.
He does this because He loves us.
41 And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.
If God expects us to give to those who want, will He refuse to give to our wants and desires because they are not a need?
I think not!
Yet, I also believe He will not give anything that would be detrimental to us or cause us to sin.