ask and it will be given you
Why Ask?
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There is a saying that has been popularized by Hollywood, but which is extremely unscriptural.
That saying is que sera, sera…what will be, will be.
There are so many scriptures that indicate that it is unscriptural, that only some will be listed here. A full blown Bible study would be required. As a reminder, various online churches, ministries, Christian bookstores and more are linked at the bottom of each post. Some of those sites listed offer books or studies on prayer. Some offer online services. YouTube videos, apps or radio or other teaching.
A blog post can only make a few introductory points.
Matthew 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
[Emphasis added]
James 1:5 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 then, there is this, which not only applies to prayer, but also to all of the Word of God in general. In other words, the results are not “que sera sera“, but depend upon the individual building life on obedience to the Word of God.
Matthew 7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:
29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
One reason it is not possible to set a life on an autopilot of que sera, sera, is because of change, not only outward change, but inward change.
Consider a child that has been playing a certain sport for several years and who all of a sudden wants to play a new sport. That would require engagement with the parents, the coach, all the principals involved, probably a new uniform or perhaps equipment…it would require a new level of asking.
Likewise, individuals get to a place where prior asking and circumstances, outside forces, levels of “doing” (or not) in the past and the consequences of “doing” (or not) bring a certain outcome and that requires a new level of asking to move forward.
When God asked Adam in the garden where he was, it wasn’t because God was ignorant. Adam had to comprehend what had happened and the consequences.
Genesis 3:8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
When the Lord sent the prophet Nathan to David it was a similar example of self-acknowledgement.
II Samuel 12:1 And the Lord sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.
2 The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds:
3 But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.
4 And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man’s lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him.
5 And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die:
6 And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.
7 And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;
8 And I gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things.
9 Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.
10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.
11 Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun.
12 For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.
13 And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.
14 Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.
Anyone that Jesus delivered and healed…the man who lived among the tombs from whom Jesus cast out devils, the boy who had a devil cast out and his epilepsy stopped, the woman with the issue of blood who was delivered, the blind healed, the lame healed, the deaf healed, lepers cleansed, Jairus’s daughter, Lazurus…any of them would have had to stop and re-evaluate their lives and begin again, seeking direction from the Lord, for their lives were radically changed by Jesus. Their worlds changed and a new season of life and a new season of asking, seeking, knocking, and following Jesus began.
Whether Adam, Eve, David, or in modern lives, the race is run a race to a certain point in time. At that point, a new asking, seeking, and knocking is required as seasons change.
Things are never stagnant.
Things are never on auto-pilot. Things can never be put on cruise control indefinitely. They can and should be done decently and in order, but there will of necessity be a season of change and a new season of seeking.
Que sera, sera does not exist.
A blog post can only introduce a topic, but not cover it in depth. For more study on various topics, click here for links to various Christian ministries.
Depending on the ministry, there may be online church services, YouTube videos, podcasts, radio programs, books, teaching, or more. You have to seek out what they have.
Watch Out for the Undertow
If you are swimming in the ocean, there is something called rip current or undertow. It is an invisible, to the eye, strong current that has the potential to pull you out to sea.
If you ever get caught in a rip current or undertow, the way to deal with it is to swim diagonally toward the shore. You may end up down the coast a bit, but at least you have a chance of reaching the shore. If you try to cut across directly, at a right angle, you can wear yourself out and perish.
Likewise, the same stream that has stepping stones which you can calmly and blithely trip across in calm weather can be treacherous in a storm. You can slip and fall in stormy weather, and you might be better served to take the journey across the stream in calmer weather.
So how do we deal with the storms and treacheries of life?
Every quarter has two sides. Heads and tails.
There is positive and negative in electricity.
There are two sides to every topic.
And while human nature likes to focus on the positive side, the negative must be looked at as well for full victory.
- We want to grow a fruitful garden, but weeds must be pulled.
- We want clean clothes, but laundry must be washed.
- We want healthy food, but it must be grown properly, prepared correctly, and stored safely, so it is not dangerous.
- We like safety, but we must have police departments in our cities to deal with that which is not safe.
- We like personal safety, but we must learn the rules of personal safety. And we must learn self-defense, naturally and spiritually.
One of the rules of personal safety is to learn how to pray in a way that permits God to help us. The word “permits” is used because God requires that we ask. God requires our free will asking. If need only were the thing required for answered prayer, than there are plenty of needs throughout the world. But a proper relationship to God is required.
Matthew 7:7 “Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you.
If you go into a store, and need something, there is a proper protocol. You think about what you need, you go searching for it on the shelves, you select it, you go to the checkout, you purchase it. There is a protocol.
There is a protocol in the Kingdom of Heaven as well. God’s kingdom is not run by “anything goes”.
There is a fatalistic thought in the secular world that “what will be will be”. That does not exist in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Perhaps for the sinner, who does not know Christ, and who is at the mercy of the satanic forces, and secular, atheistic forces inspired by satan, for that sinner who does not know how to deal with these forces in Christ, perhaps for that sinner there may be a certain degree of “what will be will be” simply because he has no access to the blood of Jesus, the name of Jesus, and the promises of God to overcome the wickedness of this evil world.
However, for the believer, it should not be so. If a believer is being tossed about and afflicted by the storms of this world, it may be because they are being destroyed for lack of knowledge. The exception would be the martyr.
- A lack of knowledge of natural things can put a person in a position to experience some kind of destruction.
- A lack of knowledge of spiritual things can also put a person in a position to experience some kind of destruction.
What kind of spiritual knowledge is needed?
- experiential knowledge of the blood of Jesus
- experiential knowledge of the authority of the name of Jesus
- experiential knowledge of how to access the promises of God in Christ Jesus
God watches over his word to perform it.
Jeremiah 1:12 Then said the Lord unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.
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Normally, I add an image to these posts as the final measure. As I searched for an image today, I felt a real terror, futurist, of the potential of someone reading this experiencing a drowning. So instead of posting an image first, I am posting some water safety tips. These are not all-inclusive, but cover a lot of scenarios. Water safety can never be emphasized enough.
- Teach your children to swim
- Always use lifejackets when boating. It doesn’t matter if you know how to swim or not. Use them.
- Children should always wear lifejackets on a dock.
- Lifejackets need to be proper lifejackets, not just “arm pillows” or “tubes” that are sold. These cheaper forms have the potential of leaving the child face down in the water, where the child could drown if not rescued in time.
- Never rely on a lifejacket to do your own job of guarding your child’s safety in the water.
- Tubes, likewise, have the potential of flipping and leaving the child face down in the water.
- Be very wary of a pool full of floating devices. An inexperienced swimmer can end up under the floating device and drown. Too many can be a challenge for even an experienced swimmer.
- Never rely on the weather as a determinant of whether to wear a lifejacket or not. Weather can shift very quickly and a sunny day can turn into a stormy day.
- Learn to swim yourself if you don’t know how. It is not enough to send your children to swimming lessons. It is not enough for your child to know how to swim when you don’t know how to swim.
- If you feel that you should not go into some water-related situation, generally a group situation such as kayaking, rafting, boating, or canoeing, don’t worry about being shamed by others for deciding to not go at the last minute. The life you save may be your own.
- It is not just oceans that are dangerous. Any body of water can be dangerous. Even a child left unattended in a bathtub can drown. A child can drown inside of a tube inside a tub simply by flipping over and being unable to right himself or herself. No child should have a cheap inner tube arrangement in the tub as a babysitter while the adult in the room is on an iphone, watching a movie, or doing anything other than paying attention to the safety of the child. For that matter, bring the towel with you to the tub at the beginning of the bath so you don’t have to leave the child unattended while you run and get the towel that you forgot.
- Learn all you can about water safety it all its forms.
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Added later than the original post:
A blog post can only introduce a topic, but not cover it in depth. For more study on various topics, click here for links to various Christian ministries.
Depending on the ministry, there may be online church services, YouTube videos, podcasts, radio programs, books, teaching, or more. You have to seek out what they have.