Ask Audaciously

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matt 7:7).

Do you trust God? How can we say we trust him to save us from our sins if we don’t trust everything else he says? But when he says, “Ask and it will be given to you,” that’s so hard to believe.

Is it hard to believe he’s able to give us what we ask for? Surely not. If he can create a universe, surely he can meet our little needs. So do we doubt his willingness? I think so. We have to trust that our heavenly Father wants to give us good things.

Paul said, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Rom 8:32), so we should be willing to act on what Jesus said. How do we do that?

First, we need to trust God’s good intentions. Jesus said:

“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!” (Matt 7:9-11).

Our loving Father is not going to give us things that will hurt us. He wants us to have good things. God is not the wicked genie who grants wishes in ways that will harm us. Nor is he obliged to grant exactly what we ask for if that will harm us. He wants what is best for us.

Second, we should be audacious. Luke connects the above passage with another story:

“Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need” (Luke 11:5-8).

I really enjoy the phrase “shameless audacity.” Ask boldly. Ask for what someone with better manners wouldn’t ask for. Ask like a child who has no concept of money, like a teenager asking for a Tesla. Reach for the stars because God is able, and he is willing.

However, he’s not always quick. So we must also be persistent:

“In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

“For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice’” (Luke 18:1-5).

Jesus said if this unjust judge will finally answer a plea out of his own interests, we can trust our just God to do better (v6-8). Do your best to wear God out asking. Do you want healing? Don’t give up. Do you want to see someone saved? Don’t stop asking. Have a material need? Keep pestering God like a kid in the cereal aisle.

But God will not give you the wrong thing, and he won’t give you the right thing for the wrong reason.

“You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (Jam 4:2-3).

Despite what some teach, there is no magic formula that will force God to give you what you want, but God does intend to give you good things. Trust him, be bold, and be persistent. Wear ... him ... out.


Image via Pixabay

Part of Christianity 102