Don't Forget to Ask

Passage

"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. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"
Luke 11:9-13 (NKJV)

Pondering

Have you ever noticed that the first letters of Ask, Seek and Knock spell ASK? AS James says, we often go through life not having what is rightfully our because we simply do not ask (James 4:2). However, then James says that it is possible to ask God for something but receive nothing. Why? "Because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures". (James 4:3)

The picture that Jesus gives us is of one asking correctly as He asks within the Father's will. We are to ask the Lord what we are to seek in prayer and then seek it until He leads us to the door. We then PUSH (Pray Until Something Happens) the door and it will open to glorious answers.

The first part of prayer in in inquiry. We enquire what God would have us pray and then seek for the fullness of what that prayer is. Many Christians pray without really asking - they are demanding what they want. This type of prayer is rarely answered as it falls into the James 4:3 category.

We must ask for that which the Father will give us - bread, fish and eggs prayers, not stone, scorpion or serpent prayers!

Poem

When on your knees do not demand
But come to Him and ask,
Seek for what is already in His hand,
And join Him in completing that task.

Prayer

"Father, I thank you that you are a prayer answering God. Help me to prayer your prayers that you will surely answer and open the doors of abundance. I ask, Father, that you always show me what to seek in earnest prayer that I only pray to move Your hand to do that which leads to Your open doors and not my closed ones. Thank you Lord. Amen."