THE PRINCIPLE IS TO ASK AND RECEIVE
Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear (Isaiah 65:24 NIV).
God already knows what’s in your heart. He knows your thoughts and knows the future. He knows everything before you pray. Jesus said, “…for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:8 NIV). So why then do we pray? We pray because God established prayer as a means of fellowship between man and God. It’s spiritual.
There’re spiritual principles that’ll never be broken. For example, why don’t we walk in the air? It’s because God established that we walk on the ground by the law of gravity. That’s God’s choice, and it’ll be unwise to question it. So, if God says prayer is necessary, then we must pray.
He said men ought always to pray and not to give up (Luke 18:1). He told us to study the Word, so we do. He told us to walk in the light of His Word; therefore, we must do that. There’re things God has determined, and they’re fixed. Our blessing comes from walking in the light that He has given us.
Since He told us to pray, we’re not supposed to say, “Lord, since you know my mind, I’ll just stay quiet.” The principle is, “…Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Luke 11:9). It didn’t stop there; it says in the 10th verse, “For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”
He didn’t say everyone who “thinks in his mind” shall receive; no. The principle is, “Ask and receive;” we have to operate within its ambits. Consider in the Old Testament; after all the beautiful blessings God promised and had in store for the children of Israel (read Ezekiel 36:21-36), He ended by telling them they’d have to pray: “…I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock”(Ezekiel 36:37).
Thank God for the privilege and opportunity of prayer through which we cause the will of the Father to be established in our lives, in the earth, and in the lives of men. Glory to God!
PRAYER
Dear Father, I thank you for the privilege of prayer that allows me to partner with you in establishing your will in the earth. As I walk in the light of your Word, your glory is manifested in my life, and I rejoice in the assurance that my prayers are effective, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
FURTHER STUDY:
Matthew 7:7-11, Jeremiah 33:3, Ezekiel 36:21-37
1-Year Bible Reading Plan: 1 Timothy 4:1-16 & Jeremiah 11-12
2-Year Bible Reading Plan: Hebrews 11:1-16 & Ezekiel 21
