“‘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 7:11 NIV)
I am well aware that we don’t get everything () we ask for; we have to ask
according to God’s will. But let us not use theological dodges /to
avoid the fact that we often go without things () God wants us to have
right now, today, because we fail to ask. Too seldom do we get honest
enough to admit, “Lord, I can’t handle this alone. I’ve just hit the
wall for the thirty-second time and I need you."
The words of the old hymn ring true:
Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
Oh, what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer.
God has chosen prayer /as his channel of blessing. He has spread a
table for us /with every kind of wisdom, grace, and strength because he
knows exactly what we need. But [the only way () we can get it] is to pull
up to the table and taste and see that the Lord is good. Pulling up to
that table is called the prayer of faith. In other words, God doesn’t
tell us to pray because he wants to impose some sort of regimen on us.
* regiment; regimen - a prescribed course of medical
treatment, diet, or exercise for the promotion or restoration of health,
a system of government.
This is not a system of legalism… God says to us, “Pray, because I have
all kinds of things for you; and when you ask, you will receive. I have
all this grace, and you live with scarcity. Come unto me, all you //who
labor. Why are you so rushed? Where are you running now? Everything () you need, I have.”
If the times are indeed as bad /as we say () they are… if the darkness in
our world is growing heavier by the moment… if we are facing spiritual
battles /right in our own homes and churches… then we are foolish not to
turn to the One //who supplies unlimited grace and power. He is our only
source. We are crazy to ignore him.
- Jim Cymbala (excerpted and adapted from Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire)
Read Matthew 7:7-11.