Ask and receive
“Whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” Matthew 21:22
Do you talk to God each day? Do you ask for things like having a good day, divine protection and peace of mind? What about praying for others? Do you ask your heavenly Father to watch over those you love and to bless the ones you care for?
Today’s scripture is about asking and receiving. Jesus said that if we believe when we ask Him for something, we will receive it. So, what are we supposed to believe? Are we to believe that He hears us? Are we to believe that He will answer our request or are we to believe that He wants to answer us? The answer to these questions is “Yes!” There are many scriptures in God’s Word that support this idea of asking and receiving. This is not an isolated instance here in Matthew 21. Psalm 91 says when we call on Him, He will answer us. Matthew 7:7 says: Ask and it will be given to you. Mark 11:24 says whatever you ask when you pray, you will have. In John 16:24, Jesus said “Ask and you will receive so you will be full of Joy.” James 1:8 lets us know that if we ask and don’t receive, it is because we are double minded (wishy/washy) and unstable in our ways. It means we are not sure about what we are asking and therefore have no faith to receive.
So why don’t we see and hear of more people praying and asking God for help in this world? If you take a look around, it is clearer than ever that we need His help. So why aren’t more people talking to God instead of complaining about or in fear of the latest world crisis? I would say it is because people as a whole do not believe that God will answer or that He has any interest in what is happening on earth. This is where we as Christians/believers come in. Now is the time for us to step away from the world’s way of fear talking and complaining and start building faith in those around us by telling of God’s goodness and His desire to come into our personal lives to guide and protect from the evils of the world. It doesn’t mean the evil will go away all together, but He will keep it from getting on you and those who call on Him.
Today I want to encourage you to take the first step in receiving and that is asking but ask with purpose and believe that God wants to answer and take care of you and those you love. Turn your focus away from the problems of the world and instead think about the solutions in Him. In Him is peace, in Him is comfort and in Him is grace to get you through whatever you are facing. Start including God in your life’s circumstances today by asking Him in to your struggles and watch how He turns everything around for good instead of evil.
Today’s scripture reading: Matthew 21:12-22
12 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.
13 And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ”
14 Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.
15 But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant
16 and said to Him, “Do You hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise’?”
17 Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.
18 Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry.
19 And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” Immediately the fig tree withered away.
20 And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither away so soon?”
21 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done.
22 And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
The Daily Dose 