3 Responsibilities In Asking Of God

In our culture today, if we want something, we just ask for it. And usually, we get it and we get it fast. We can literally pull into a drive-thru and have a hot meal, made to order, in less than 5 minutes. When we are asking of God, however, things are different…sometimes very different.

Asking Of God For Years?

I have read about people (mostly mothers) that have prayed for years and years for family members or others to come to Christ. Others have been praying for what seems like forever to be able to have children. I have several prayers myself that have been going on over ten years!

So what is the deal? Why is it so different when we are asking of God? Why do we often get no answer (or one we don’t like!) even after praying for such a long time? Why does He seem to delay or withhold what is good from us?

Answers In Scripture

These are very good questions and ones that I think we can answer from Scripture. At the same time, I think it is important that we first answer another question. This other question needs to be answered first because it will help us better understand the answers to the first questions. Make sense?

Good! So let’s tackle the first question in today’s post and the other questions in the following post. The first question is this:

What is our responsibility in asking of God?

While this may seem like a simple question, I would like to turn to a part of the Sermon on the Mount for the foundation to the answer to this question. Let’s look at Matthew 7:7-11 and see what we find.

7 “Ask, and it will be given to you. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 What man among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
Matthew 7:7-11

If you read this passage quickly, you could get quickly frustrated. It sounds like God is a vending machine. It sounds like asking of God is a quick way to get anything we want! Fortunately, this is not true. Fortunately for us, He loves us more than that, but we will get to that later!

God Does Not Work Like That!

If you have been a believer in Jesus long enough to pray for something, then you know this is not how it works. You know, likely from experience, that God is not a vending machine. Simply asking of God does not give us whatever we want the way it works in our culture.

However, there is good news! We have some responsibility in the asking and if we will follow what Scripture tells us to do, then we will get what we want (with just a little twist).

Step #1 – Go To God First

This sounds like a simple statement, but there is more to it than it seems. We cannot simply go to Him when we cannot get what we want elsewhere. We are to go to Him alone.

This means we should not be going to the world to get what we want. We should not expect our businesses, our employees, or our co-workers to give us what we want. Instead, we should be relying on God Himself to supply us with our needs.

To back this up, look at Matthew 6:33 where it says to seek Him first. Take a look at Psalm 37:4 where it says we are to delight ourselves in Him. In both verses, it follows that the rest will be given to us. The desires of our hearts will be provided by Him.

Step #2 – Go To God Continuously

The actual verb tense and mood from the original Greek in verse 7 above (ask, seek, knock) means that we are to continually do these things. We are not to ask, seek, or knock once. We are to do so repeatedly, over a period of time, with no sense of an end to these actions.

Look at the parable of the persistent widow from Luke 18:1-8. She continuously asks the local judge for justice against her adversary. She does not simply make a single request, but pesters him over time. He finally relents and grants her request, just to get rid of her!

Immediately after teaching this parable, Jesus says that God will certainly hear the cry of his children for justice and grant it swiftly! Like the widow, we need to make our requests known to God and do so with persistence. Better phrased, Matthew 7:7 might say, “the one who continues to ask as a habitual, ongoing requesting will receive.”

Step #3 – Believe It will Happen

Again looking at the original Greek tells us something interesting about the phrases, “it will be given” and “you will find” and “the door will be opened.” It tells us that these actions are believed by the author to be certain future events, not potential or possible results.

Jesus, the Son of the Living God, used language to say that He believed with certainty that these events (given, find, opened) would absolutely happen! That should be enough for us. For one more exclamation point, look at James 1:5-8.

5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without criticizing, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 An indecisive man is unstable in all his ways.
James 1:5-8

In my next post, we will look at a key condition Jesus puts in this passage about asking of God and getting what we ask for. We will also look at 3 ways to apply this Scripture to our business and personal lives.

Have you made a habit of asking of God first?

Do you ask continuously or once and done?

How strong is your faith when it comes to answered prayer?