Ask and you shall receive 30 June 2021
Key verse Matthew 7:7 “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.”
In John 16:24 Jesus stated, “Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete”. What did Jesus mean by this and the key verse? Does this mean to ask for anything we want?
Our prayers to God are not unlike our requests to family members. Our prayers are based on a relationship – a personal relationship with Jesus as Lord and Saviour. If a child asks his father for something the father knows to be hurtful, the request is denied. The child may be frustrated and unhappy when they don’t get what they asked for, but ultimately if there is a loving relationship then they trust that the father knows best and conversely, when the child asks for something that the father knows is beneficial, the father will provide it eagerly because he loves his child. There is another point to the promise of “ask and receive”, we see in John 14:13-14 Jesus saying “I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.” He does not promise His disciples anything and everything they want; rather, instructs them to ask “in my name.” To pray in Jesus’ name is to pray on the basis of Jesus’ authority, but it also involves praying according to the will of God, for the will of God is what Jesus always did (John 6:38). This truth is stated clearly in 1 John 5:14 “if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” Our requests must be compatible with the will of God. This promise of “ask and receive,” even with its conditions, will never disappoint us, because there is no chance of things we need not being in God’s will. He promises to supply what we need when we “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” Matthew 6:33 KJV. Of course, what we want is not always what we need and if what we want is not in God’s will, then we really don’t want to receive it.
The following extract is taken from John Gill’s Bible Commentary.
Ask and it shall be given you – This is to be understood of asking of God in prayer, for such things as are wanting; whether of a temporal nature, as food and raiment, which Christ, in the former chapter, had warned against an immoderate and anxious concern for; or of a spiritual nature, as grace, and wisdom to behave in a proper manner, both towards God and men: and such, who ask according to the will of God, in the name of Christ, and under the direction, guidance, and influence of the Spirit, who ask in faith and fear, and with submission to the divine will, shall have what they ask for; not as what they deserve, but as a free gift.
Seek, and ye shall find. – This is still meant of prayer, and of seeking God, his face and favour: which such shall find who seek in a right way, by Christ, and with their whole hearts, diligently:
knock and it shall be opened unto you – as beggars do, who use much importunity for relief and assistance. So men should stand and knock at the door of mercy, which will not always be shut against them. Faith in prayer is a key that opens this door when a poor soul finds grace and mercy to help it in time of need. Our Lord’s design is to express the nature, fervour, and constancy of prayer, and to encourage it.
There are many verses related to “Ask and you shall receive“, here are some of them. Mark 11:24 “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
Matthew 21:22 “Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.” John 14:13-14 “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”
John 15:7 “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
John 16:24 “Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.“
Luke 11:13 “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” and
Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
God knows what is good for us and is faithful and loving to say “no” to what in effect are selfish and foolish prayers, no matter how much we want what we’re asking for or how many times we keep asking James 4:3 “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”
Let us as we have just seen in John 15:7 strive to be close to our Lord and Saviour that we will know in our prayers and request what is true and right for us and those we pray for.