Ask. Receive.

 God knows what we need, even before we ask. So why ask? Why wouldn’t a loving God just give us what we need? I believe it’s because He already has. He’s simply waiting for us to ask where to find it – which is, more often than not, in plain sight. I don’t believe God has a pile of your blessings stashed in a backroom somewhere in His mansion. He’s not just waiting for you to ask for blessing #1482 so He can gift wrap and send it with a bow.

No - I believe that God has already given you every single blessing imaginable, but it’s up to YOU to receive those blessings. Notice that, “Ask and ye shall receive,” includes two verbs – both of which are for US to perform. We ask, and we also receive. Again, “Seek and ye shall find.” Two verbs, both assigned to the seeker.

I remember having a real struggle with this prayer business several years ago. I was praying and praying for something to happen, and it just didn’t. I was pretty bitter because I felt like I was told that if I asked I would receive, but on the other hand I was also told that if it didn’t happen, it wasn’t the Lord’s will and I just had to accept that. Well, I didn’t accept that. I didn’t accept that it could possibly be both of those things. It had to be one or the other.

So, I made it a matter of study and (ironically) prayer. I dissected the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6. And folks, nowhere does it say, “Make a wish list and I’ll happily oblige”. No, it says, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Hmm. To put that another way, I will use the words of one of my church leaders: “The purpose of faith is not to change God’s will but to empower US to act on GOD'S will.”

After I understood the purpose of prayer better, I was able to change MY purpose in prayer. Instead of praying for a very specific solution to my problem, I simply prayed for a solution. I prayed for relief. It came in an incredibly unexpected way. But it came. I learned to put my needs to the Lord, and trust His wisdom in meeting them. I accepted His creativity in doing so.

Now, my understanding is evolving once again. I am beginning to understand that all that God has promised us has already been given. We are standing in the midst of these gifts, wading up to our neck in them. There is a path that leads from you to the things that you want. It’s probably shorter than you think, and it’s probably not a straight line between A and B. It is probably a journey up - up to a new vantage point.

So, why do we have to ask? Asking creates movement. It is the first step in a two-step process. Ask. Receive. And there is probably a lot of doing in between.

I remember watching RJ play with a bottle of bubbles for over 30 minutes one night just before his first birthday. He kept pulling out the wand then trying to get it back in. Nine times out of 10, he missed. But he kept doing this, over and over again. I held the bottle and resisted the urge to direct the wand back into the hole. I realized that his goal was NOT to get the wand back into the bottle. It was to LEARN how to get the wand back into the bottle. And he did.

Likewise, God’s purpose is not fulfilled in stuffing our arms full of all the things He desires us to have. It is fulfilled in allowing us to receive them as we are able to recognize them. The next time you feel you may be speaking to silent skies, remember that God wants all the things that you want. He’s earmarked quite a bit just for you. But I promise you that He has already done the giving part. Now, it’s up to YOU to receive it.

<3