Ask Rightly

There is only one way to guarantee that the answer from God to every prayer is ‘yes’. We have to learn to ask for the right things from God. When we ask for the right things, He will always say yes.

The Lord said to his disciples, “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone; or if he asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Luke 11.9-13

This passage seems simple enough. Ask, and God will give. The only problem is that we often ask and God does not give. What’s the deal? Is God leading us on with such a promise? Saint James gives us the most straight forward answer. “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” (James 4.3)

The solution is to ask for the right things from God. The right things will always be those which God desires for us. He desires, most especially, for our salvation. He desires to forgive us. He desires that we know Him as God. Anything we ask beyond that is not a guaranteed ‘yes’ from God.

Go back and read yesterdays post on “How to Pray” and ask yourself, “Am I praying for the right things from God?”