Ask Anything?
Can we confidently ask for anything from God?
Verse of the Day
“At that time you won’t need to ask me for anything. I tell you the truth, you will ask the Father directly, and he will grant your request because you use my name. You haven’t done this before. Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.”
Today’s Devotional
Nine pages. I have nine pages of scriptures and notes and commentaries about this topic of “ask anything in My name and you will receive it”. These pages are printed out and sitting next to me as I attempt to write about a repeated teaching of Jesus that I feel incredibly unqualified to write about. Why? Because it scares me, and because I have prayed for things that have not happened or that I have not yet received.
Here’s what I know. God is not a vending machine. Just because I believe in Jesus, and now have access to speak directly to the Father, I cannot ask for anything I want that does not align with His will. (Well, to be clear, I can ask, but it may not be given.) I can’t expect- when I have procrastinated and now I’m running late- to then ask in Jesus’ name for all the traffic lights to be green and for that to happen. The name of Jesus is not a magic wand to be used in prayer with the Father.
I want us to imagine an earthly king sitting on his throne. We are given an audience with this king because of his son. We know the son and we’ve met him (and we think he is great). Maybe we even talk to him occasionally. So we are standing before this king and asking for things – like good weather for an upcoming trip, or physical healing (for ourselves or someone else), or the outcome we want in some situation. The king says, “Why do you want these things?” Our answer is, “Well, your son said I could have them.” The king lifts his eyebrows in an amused way and says, “Did he? That’s great. Let’s get him in here and we can discuss it.”
Prayer is not about me getting what I want. Prayer is about each of us getting to know that Father and what He wants, which we can only do because of His Son, Jesus. And what does God want? God wants all of His created beings to know Him, love Him, and to put Him on the throne of our heart. If our request will accomplish even one tiny step in that direction, THAT’S when we have learned the secret to prayer and the power we have been given.
Andrew Murray says this: “The Lord gave the wonderful promise of the free use of His name with the Father in conjunction with doing His works. The disciple (that’s us) who lives only for Jesus’ work and kingdom, for His will and honor, will be given the power to appropriate the promise.
Those grasping the promise only when they want something special will be disappointed, because they are making Jesus the servant of their own comforts. But whoever wants to pray the effective prayer of faith because they need it for the work of the Master will learn it, because they have made themselves the servant of the Lord’s interests.”
In prayer, we can talk to God about anything and everything. In continued, habitual prayer, we will get to know the Father to whom we pray. As we get to know the Father, we become confident in our identity as His beloved sons and daughters. In prayer, we experience His overwhelming love for us as we are in His presence. We learn the true meaning of grace. We accept the invitation into fellowship with the Creator of all. We experience the beauty of who He is. In prayer, as we delight in the presence of our Father God, He sets His purpose in our heart and He empowers us to do those things. As we need anything to carry out His purpose in our life, we ask Him. And He provides. Because God will always give us what we need to carry out His agenda.
So…when I look back over the things I have prayed for that I have not received… I can see that many of those things were simply to satisfy my own desires. I can see that some prayers took years for the answer to come, and now I can see that He answered me as soon as I was ready for the answer. For the things that I have prayed for that align with His will that have not yet happened, I wait in faith. And I keep getting to know Him better, which happens in prayer. And I continue to carry out whatever He has for me to do today, and those directions come through prayer.
We do not need to be in vocational ministry to be “doing His works”. All of us are called to be messengers of the Good News of Jesus. And all of us need help with that. Sometimes it’s as simple as asking for God to guard our mouth and guide our words as we speak to someone we find challenging. It’s asking to be so full of the love and hope of Jesus that others ask us about Him. And as we learn to set down our own agenda and ask God for His, Jesus promises abundant joy.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
How and when have you been disappointed with an answer to prayer or lack thereof?
How have you struggled with the verses in the Bible that say “ask and you shall receive?”
How have you wanted God to be your “vending machine”?
How can you invite God to reorder your priorities so that His will is the focus of your life?
Spend some time in prayer today asking the Father to allow you to simply get to know Him better.