Matthew 7:7 says, “Ask, and it shall be given you;…”
Matthew 14:23 says, “And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.”
James 1:5 states “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”
And 1 John 5:14-15 says, “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
There are many more Scriptures like those above that admonish us to boldly and confidently seek and ask the Lord (pray!) for help, wisdom, or guidance whenever there is a need.
Yet far too often we seek help from everyone else before asking the Lord. I do not know why many of us tend to do this, but we do.
Lyrics from the old hymn, What A Friend We Have in Jesus, put it like this: “Oh what peace we often forfeit, oh what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.” And this is true – more often than it needs to be.
I cannot remember what was going on at the time, but several years ago the Holy Spirit arrested me, conducted a divine intervention, and used two different instances to change this tendency in me.
The first was during a time of family prayer and fellowship with my very dear cousins, Shirley and Christine. The Lord had directed us to Jeremiah 33:3. Now, I was quite familiar with the King James Version (KJV) of this of passage of Scripture as the KJV is my preferred version of the Bible. But I had never heard the Contemporary English Version (CEV) before, and was not expecting “Ask me, and I will tell you things that you don’t know and can’t find out,” to literally explode within my spirit when Cousin Shirley read it. But God!
Like some of you, there are times when I have not even known the right question to ask in order to get the right answer. And believe it or not, Google® or Alexa® do not have all of the answers either! So, I very much appreciated the illuminated quickening of the Holy Ghost that day – that all I have to do is simply ask my heavenly Father.
The second instance was shared by Minister Beverly Lyons. While working one day, she heard the Lord distinctly say, “I have all the answers.” To which she quickly mentally assented, but He stopped her and said again more slowly and firmly, “Beverly, I have all the answers.” This also exploded within me when she shared it.
That God will surely, most certainly give me guidance, answer my questions and petitions, gives me an assurance that is deeper and more real than before. It drives the piles of faith even deeper into my faith foundation The Lord is truly now my first “go-to” whenever I don’t know what to do.
Since the living God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, has all of the answers, why would I not ask Him first so that He can tell me what I don’t know and can’t find out? My brother and sister, why wouldn’t you – so that you will know His will for your life, ministry, or family?
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