Friday, May 9, 2025
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Matthew 7:7-8
In Matthew 7 Jesus is preaching the sermon on the mount. He tells the crowd listening that when they ask, they will receive – because they asked. Also, when you seek you will find – because you were seeking. In Pastor Jim’s sermon this past Sunday Jesus asked the blind man, “What do you want me to do for you?” He wasn’t teasing the blind man. He wasn’t asking him a question that he did not intend to answer. Yes he knew what the blind man would want him to do but he wanted the blind man to ask him. Our passion and persistence are rewarded as God promises an answer for those who seek him. When we have little passion behind our prayers, we are saying we don’t believe he can handle what we need.
In the Bible there are so many verses that tell us that Jesus loves us and wants to give us the desires of our heart. Why do we not believe this and accept this promise? He wants to help us, and he does sometimes even before we ask, but he wants us to ask him. When we ask we trust in him and believe that he will keep his promises to us. That does not mean that he will answer every prayer and give us every desire just as we want. Part of trusting and believing in him is surrendering and knowing that he will always answer our prayers in the way that is best for us.
Some verses that remind us that Jesus wants to help us:
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. 1 John 5:14-15 ESV
We have this promise that he hears us and we have the requests that we ask of him – when we ask according to his will. We cannot ask him for things that do not glorify him and expect him to give us those things. In everything we do and say – and ask – we are to glorify him.
For nothing will be impossible with God.” Luke 1:37 ESV
Many times we don’t ask because we don’t believe he can do it. We don’t believe things will ever get better. We don’t believe that we will never get out of debt. We don’t believe our dad, spouse, sibling, child, etc.… will ever quit drinking or doing drugs. When we have these feelings, we are usually trying to find a solution to our trials on our own. Our ways are not his ways so there is no way we can find the answers to our problems. But with God all things are possible. There is nothing that is impossible for him.
Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7 ESV
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7 ESV
He loves us and he wants to carry the burdens that we are not meant to carry. Whatever makes us anxious or worried or fearful, we can surrender to him because he loves us. We cannot fix them and the weight of carrying them will crush us. Surrender it all over to him and let him carry it for you. With a spirit of thanksgiving for all he has done, ask him for what you need. Let your requests be made known. Put it in his hands and take a deep breath. He has it. Let his peace fall on you, guarding your heart and mind.
Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4 ESV
If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. John 15:7 ESV
Delight yourself in the Lord. When we focus on him, delight in him, trust in him, abide in him, he will give us the desires of our heart – rightly placed desires that glorify him.
If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. John 14:14 ESV
Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. John 16:24 ESV
Surrender your own desires. Ask for what you desire, but in his name. The things that we think we need or want will sometimes lead us to anything but joy. When we ask in his name, we are asking for our desires to be filtered through his will – the only path to true joy!
And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. Isaiah 58:11 ESV
Those scorched places are the places in your heart that have not been satisfied by anything we have tried. Everything we try that is not Jesus only scorches deeper and deeper into our heart.
So many verses in the Bible echo this truth to us that Jesus is asking us “What do you want me to do for you?” He knows our needs. He knows our heartaches and pain. He sees us. He wants us to come to him and give him the desires of our hearts as well as the needs we have. He wants to satisfy our scorched places like a watered garden. Whatever it is that you need or want – make sure it aligns with God’s word and it is glorifying to him. Then go to him and ask him. He is waiting and he is the answer for everything.
