For some time now, I've been studying the Scripture passages that say we have what we ask for in prayer. There are a lot of them. When God repeats Himself many times, it's a big clue that we should listen up.
Though "have what we ask" may sound too simplistic to be believed, or, on the other hand, like the "name it and claim it" concept that says we can basically have anything at all if we just say the word, I want to avoid either extreme and examine this issue carefully. I mean, we know life disappoints us at times. We know we don't get everything we want. This isn't news. Yet we certainly can't dismiss the words of Jesus, even if they sound too good to be true. There's something here we're not getting, something we need to uncover.
In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says this about prayer: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him" (Matthew 7:7-11, NIV)! The verb tense for "ask," "seek," and "knock" is actually "keep on asking, keep on seeking," etc. We learn here that persistence is key.
Matthew also tells the story of Jesus cursing a fig tree (which He apparently could tell was not going to fruit as it should), and as a result the tree withered. Though this is an example to Christians of the need to produce fruit in our own lives, it's also a lesson in prayer. By way of explaining this to His disciples, He said, "Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer" (Matthew 21:22, NIV). Faith without doubt, then, is key.
The book of John discusses Jesus' teachings on this at the most length. John 14:13-14 says, "And I will do whatever you ask in My name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in My name and I will do it." What do we learn here? Asking in Jesus' name, with an intent to glorify the Father, is key.
My personal favorite of these verses is John 15:7-8. Jesus says, "If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to My Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples." Here the conditions are two: remain in Jesus and follow his words; and have in mind the Father's glory, bearing Holy Spirit fruit, and showing yourself to be a disciple of Jesus. These are key.
Similarly, King David the psalmist wrote in Psalm 37:5, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." This isn't to say that delighting in the Lord gives us a blank check; rather, over time it adjusts our desires to what God desires for us--desires that He will delight to fulfill. Delighting in Jesus is part of remaining in Him.
John wrote, in 1 John 5:14-15, "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of Him." Praying in God's will is key.
Jesus also said, as recorded in Matthew 18:19, "Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven." While agreement among two or more isn't required for answered prayer, it helps.
And, along with the Do verses, there's a Don't verse. James 4:3 says, "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." Are you asking for a Mercedes just so you can look rich or one-up your neighbor? Chances are good you won't get it. If you've ever heard the phrase "praying amiss," that is the KJV wording for asking with wrong motives. We can't always have whatever we want just because we want it.
This will get much too long if I I quote the other Scriptures at length, so I will list them here:
Mark 11:24
Luke 11: 9 and 13; 17:6; 18:1-8
John 16:24
James 1:5-8
1 John 3:22
1 Kings 3:5
What we learn from the Scriptures, most of them Jesus' own words, is that we can have whatever we ask for in prayer, if:
- We persist in prayer and don't give up
- We have faith and don't doubt
- We ask in Jesus' name
- We seek to glorify the Father, bear fruit, and be disciples
- We remain in Jesus and delight in the Lord
- We pray in God's will
- We don't ask for something merely to indulge our appetites
Fine, but how do we DO all this? On Wednesday, June 18, I'll discuss that in Part 2.
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