Matthew 7.7-11,
Luke 11.9-13,
John 14.13-14,
15.7,
16.4.
These passages are found in the middle of Jesus’s
I tend to summarize this idea as “If you don’t ask, you don’t get.” If we want something from Jesus, ask! It’s okay for us to do that. He does take prayer requests.
Matthew 7.7-11 KWL 7 “Ask!—it’ll be given you².- Look!—you’ll² find it.
- Knock!—it’ll be unlocked for you².
8 For all who ask receive,- who seek find,
- who knock God’ll unlock for.
9 Same as any of you².- Your² child will ask you² for bread;
- you² won’t give them¹ a cobblestone.
10 Or they’ll¹ ask you² for fish;- you² won’t give them¹ a snake.
11 So if you’re² evil,- yet knew to give good gifts to your children,
- how much more will your² heavenly Father
- give good things to those who ask him?”
Luke 11.9-13 KWL 9 “And I tell you²: Ask!—it’ll be given you².- Look!—you’ll² find it.
- Knock!—it’ll be unlocked for you².
10 For all who ask receive,- who seek find,
- who knock God’ll unlock for.
11 Any parent from among you²:- Your² child will ask for fish,
- and instead of fish do you² give them¹ a snake?
12 Or they’ll¹ ask for an egg;- do you² give them¹ a scorpion?
13 So if you² evildoers- knew to give good gifts to your² children,
- how much more will your heavenly Father
- give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”
John 14.13-14 KWL 13 “You² can ask whatever in my name.- I’ll do it so, in the Son, the Father can be thought well of.
14 When what you² ask me is in my name,- I’ll do it.”
John 15.7 KWL - “When you² stay in me
- and my words stay in you²,
- whenever you² want, ask!
- It’ll happen for you².”
John 16.24 KWL - “Till now you’ve² never asked anything in my name.
- Ask!—and you’ll² receive,
- so your² joy can be fulfilled.”
This needs to be said, ’cause some folks don’t entirely believe it is okay to ask God for stuff.
When I was a kid, I’d ask my parents for stuff, sorta like the kids in Jesus’s examples. Except those kids asked for bread, fish, and eggs; and I’d ask for a Commodore 64. Sometimes my parents gave me what I asked for. Other times, not so much. Computers weren’t cheap.
When I got persistent—when I wouldn’t take no for an answer, and kept right on asking, seeking, knocking—they’d respond, “Would you stop asking?” Not always because they didn’t want me to have these things. Sometimes they did, but they wanted me to earn money and buy it myself.
And sometimes they’d pull this sort of evil stunt: Say yes, just so I’d suffer the consequences.
Calvin and Hobbes, 25 May 1986. Calvin’s mom teaches him an unnecessary “little lesson.” GoComics
The punchline—“Trusting parents can be hazardous to your health”—is exactly right. Calvin’s mom thought she was teaching him a valuable lesson. She was… but she didn’t
No. That is not how God works. If our flawed plans have unintended consequences, he warns us of those consequences, like he did
God wants to give good things to his children,
But seriously, anything we ask?
There are a number of
Any of that true? Nope. It’s based on
In real life, experience has demonstrated we don’t always get what we request.
We got lots of examples of this in the bible. The apostles James and John wanted to call down fire on a city full of innocent Samaritans.
It may sometimes appear God granted a wrong-headed request. We might pray for something, and it coincidentally happens, and we assume, “Nope, it’s God! It’s a God-incidence.” Okay, clever guy, look at the fruit. Is it furthering God’s kingdom? No? Not at all? Doing the opposite? Then it’s not wise to presume God has anything to do with it.
In some cases it actually is a God thing—but he’s not doing it because he wants to grant our request; he’s got his own independent reasons. Fr’instance a selfish evangelist who asks God to save a roomful of people so he can have the glory, and brag about how many people he’s led to Jesus. But despite the evangelist’s fleshly motives and bad behavior, God wants ’em saved because he loves them.
Hence getting anything we ask is only guaranteed to those of us who truly follow Jesus.
Motive’s important. Attitude’s important. Humility’s important. Don’t pray without ’em.
God wants to give good gifts.
Lemme quote this verse again:
Matthew 7.11 KWL - “So if you’re² evil,
- yet knew to give good gifts to your² children,
- how much more will your² heavenly Father
- give good things to those who ask him?”
When Jesus says good things, he’s using the Greek word
In other words not bad gifts. Not gifts which, though we consider ’em the most awesome things ever, and think they solve our problems perfectly, turn out to backfire and wreck us like a Twilight Zone episode. God doesn’t fulfill our requests so, like Calvin’s mom, he can teach an ironic lesson. He’s a good God, not a passive-aggressive one.
When I chide parents for pulling such stunts, it tends to rub ’em the wrong way. Some of ’em think aversion therapy is the very best way to teach kids. It’s the “school of hard knocks.” Toughens ’em up. Teaches ’em life’s lessons the hard way. Burn your hand, and you’ll never touch a hot stove again. Get scratched, and you’ll never fingerpaint the cat again. Puke heavily, then suffer a raging hangover, and you’ll never get drunk again. (As if that ever stopped teenagers.)
Frankly, that’s careless, reckless, evil parenting. Fr’instance, imagine Calvin asked his mom if he could play with Grandpa’s handgun, and she answered just as cavalierly: “Sure; just do it outside.” Crank up the volume on the circumstances, and now we can finally recognize the evil in it.
God’s parenting style is not to teach us the hard way. It may appear that way when people superficially read the Old Testament. They read Judges and assume every time the Hebrews sinned, the L
God’s a good Father. He doesn’t parent us by tossing us into the woods, Spartan-style, with nothing but a pointed stick and a compass, demanding we claw our way into his kingdom despite the horrors of the forest. He warns us away from such things. Explicitly. Read your bible!
So if your 5-year-old daughter is hungry, you don’t figure, “Time to teach her to fend for herself,” and make her hunt pigeons in the backyard. You might tell her to go get some breakfast cereal from the pantry, but you stocked the pantry. Nor will you surprise her with poisonous food: Bread full of grit,
Pride and prayer requests.
From time to time, I come across Christians who look at prayer requests as a major hurdle. They were raised to be independent, and they’re quite proud of their resourcefulness… so to them, asking God for stuff—begging God for stuff—bugs them greatly. They don’t like the idea of being dependent on anyone. Not even their heavenly Father.
I know a lot of libertarians who loathe the very idea of dependence. It offends them. They’re outraged when people get something without working for it. (It’s called grace. They know this. They still hate it.) They don’t want charity or aid or handouts or freebies; if they fail, they’re okay with suffering and deprivation. If others fail, they’re okay with them starving to death or dying. Survival of the fittest is nature’s way, after all.
Yep, it’s a pride thing. Precisely the sort of pride God opposes.
And once they’re unable to do for themselves, strangely enough, they begin to lose faith in God. As if the only way he provides is through their ability. But the sad thing is he never did provide for them; they never called on him!
This is hardly a new attitude. Jesus had to instruct his own students:
John 16.24 KWL - “Till now you’ve² never asked anything in my name.
- Ask!—and you’ll² receive,
- so your² joy can be fulfilled.”
The kids really weren’t aware they could ask and receive. They’d seen Jesus ask and receive, but they assumed he was successful ’cause he’s extra-special. ’Cause he’s Jesus. A lot of us Christians still think the very same way: Jesus can do it, but we can’t. Well, Jesus wanted it made clear we can so. Ask in Jesus’s name, and you’ll get as Jesus gets. You’ll get answered like Jesus is answered. Because you know Jesus—and because you’re asking for stuff with the very same attitude, motive, and faith, as him.
God wants to help. It’s “so your joy can be fulfilled,”
So let’s work on that. Get rid of that pride. Remember he only wants our best. And ask.
