Thursday, February 17, 2022

Asking Without Receiving?

"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."
Matthew 7:7-8 (NKJV)

My first experience with touchless faucets was frustrating.  I went to a sink that had no handle for the water, and when I finally realized it was a touchless faucet, I waved my hand around, but didn't get any water.  However, once I put my hand in the right place, everything was fine.  There was nothing wrong with the sink, even though at first I thought that there was.  The problem was that while I had the right idea, the way I was doing things was wrong.  Once I used the right method, everything was fine.

Prayer is a wonderful opportunity for us to fellowship with God and talk to Him about things that are important to us.  We may see verses like Matthew 7:7-8, and then we pray, but we don't see the desired result.  Sometimes the reason for this is because we have not taken the entire context of God's Word into account.  First of all, we need to come to God with His Word as our foundation, this assures us that we are asking according to His will, and we can be sure He will hear, and answer, our prayers (1 John 5:14-15).

Also, there are things that can hinder our prayers.  James tells us that we must ask in faith (James 1:6) and if we ask with the wrong motive we will not receive (James 4:3).  Peter warned husbands that if they did not treat their wives in the right way, that those husband's prayers would be hindered (1 Peter 3:7), and this is not something that would just be limited to husbands and wives either.  For successful prayer, to always be sure that when we ask, we receive, we need to follow the guidelines for prayer that we have in God's Word. 

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