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PROGRAM D-8185
Ask and keep on asking. That is a principle which we see in Scripture. We are to be askers—persistent askers, at that. Have you learned the power of asking? Effective asking requires that we ask with right motives, we are specific when we ask, and we don’t give up easily. These are true if we’re asking something from God or from our boss—or anyone else for that matter.
Here is an important biblical teaching when it comes to asking God for something:
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. (1 John 5:14-15)
The Apostle John gives us a really startling principle—one that almost seems too good to be true—whatever we ask, we have! Is that what he said? Yes, that’s what he said. However, there’s a qualifier—if we ask according to his will. This means our motive has to be for the glory of God, not just for our pleasure. It also means that we need to know what God’s will is so that we can ask in accordance with it.
You can’t short-change God’s Word in your life because knowing God’s will in any particular situation is a function of knowing the Word better and better. God reveals his will through his Word and through his Spirit—who usually reveals his will to us through the Word of God. So, how much time do you spend in God’s Word?
Romans 12:1-2 says that we can know what God’s good, pleasing and perfect will is by offering ourselves as living sacrifices and being transformed by the renewing of our minds. That transformation happens more and more as we immerse our life in the truth of God’s Word.
Do you see the progression here? We need to know God’s will in order to ask appropriately and therefore get what we ask for. In order to know God’s will, we must know God’s Word and be sensitive to the Spirit of God who resides within us as Christ-followers. Then, as we are more and more confident of what God’s will is, the requests we make to God are more and more in line with his will—and he will hear and answer!
I want to learn the power of asking God for great things that bring him glory, and see the great and mighty things he wants to do. Will you join with me in asking God to teach us the power of asking?