As Christians we are washed in the blood of Christ. Inherent in that is the status of our relationship with God. We are in "sonship" status. We can petition the Father, we are His inheritors. We are His and He is ours.
My oldest son is adopted into my family. He has all the rights and privileges that come with being my son. He walks like me, talks like me, he is MY son. I would gladly give anything to protect him, i would also be the first to smack him upside the head when he is in need of it. He has the same status as my other two children. He has my unconditional love and support.
Can our Father in Heaven be any less gracious, loving , and kind? I am His Son through the precious blood of Christ. He adopted me, paid the balance of my cost and loves me.
Luke 11:9-13 KJV
9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
Christ is talking of the love of the Father for His children. We are washed in the blood. This makes us able to stand before Almighty God. He sees us through the blood and white as snow, not blacker than night in our sins. He has empowered us to overcome. We just have to come to the realization that the battle is over we have won. God has never promised us a rose garden, or a life free of pain. He has promised to never leave nor desert us.
We should understand the answers of God though when we pray. Just as my son wasn't always given what he asked for because he was not aware of all the implications of those requests. So it is with our God. He may say yes, no or not right now. He sees the big picture. We only see the immediacy of our request; we do not see the full implications for us and those around us.
We also need to understand that we are already joint-heirs with Christ, and we don't fully understand that either. We are in the power of God daily. His Spirit is accessible to us 24/7. We already have the victory in Christ but we live like we are defeated dejected and broken.
So often I hear people pray, and I too am guilty of this, "not my will but thine", and when I say guilty I mean fatalistic. We should be praying in power and faith. Yes we want God to work His will as He is the all-knowing Father. But we do have the right to petition Him for our wants, our needs, our desires. We have a guy in our church who has been faithful for years. He is sick and it's not looking good. I was praying for him and said Lord work your will. I then heard another man pray Father we don't know your will but Father it is our desire that you heal our Brother. I felt rather sheepish as it appeared to me then that I was giving up on this man.
James 1:5-7KJV
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.
6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
James tells us to pray believing that it can be done, faith in God and His power as we ask in God's will.
Luke 17:5-6KJV
5 And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.
6 And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
So to sum up, we have not because we ask not. We are God's children. We are able to go before Him and ask. We have the power of God at hand if we just utilize it. Prayer is a powerful weapon. It is our quiet time with God. We need to understand that we have won the victory, we should be praying in the power of God believing and it shall be done. If we are fellowshipping with Him, Reading His word then all things are possible as we would then be in the same train of thought that He is. Once we have that relationship we can strengthen out prayer and by that we shall firm up our faith.
once we have the power of God working in our lives we can the stop the fatalistic defeatism we allow in. We can then Stand boldly before the throne of Grace asking Him our wants and needs and know that He will hear us.
This does not mean prosperity theory preaching. God does not want us all rich, successful, healthy, handsome and eloquent. If that was the case we would not need Him. He wants us humbled fully trusting in His grace each hour. God will bless us, but His ideas of blessings are far better than ours.
So when we pray we must seek His will, but we still can bring our wants to Him too. He is our Father and He wants to hear from us all about us.
Luke 11:9-13 KJV
9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
Christ is talking of the love of the Father for His children. We are washed in the blood. This makes us able to stand before Almighty God. He sees us through the blood and white as snow, not blacker than night in our sins. He has empowered us to overcome. We just have to come to the realization that the battle is over we have won. God has never promised us a rose garden, or a life free of pain. He has promised to never leave nor desert us.
We should understand the answers of God though when we pray. Just as my son wasn't always given what he asked for because he was not aware of all the implications of those requests. So it is with our God. He may say yes, no or not right now. He sees the big picture. We only see the immediacy of our request; we do not see the full implications for us and those around us.
We also need to understand that we are already joint-heirs with Christ, and we don't fully understand that either. We are in the power of God daily. His Spirit is accessible to us 24/7. We already have the victory in Christ but we live like we are defeated dejected and broken.
So often I hear people pray, and I too am guilty of this, "not my will but thine", and when I say guilty I mean fatalistic. We should be praying in power and faith. Yes we want God to work His will as He is the all-knowing Father. But we do have the right to petition Him for our wants, our needs, our desires. We have a guy in our church who has been faithful for years. He is sick and it's not looking good. I was praying for him and said Lord work your will. I then heard another man pray Father we don't know your will but Father it is our desire that you heal our Brother. I felt rather sheepish as it appeared to me then that I was giving up on this man.
James 1:5-7KJV
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.
6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
James tells us to pray believing that it can be done, faith in God and His power as we ask in God's will.
Luke 17:5-6KJV
5 And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.
6 And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
So to sum up, we have not because we ask not. We are God's children. We are able to go before Him and ask. We have the power of God at hand if we just utilize it. Prayer is a powerful weapon. It is our quiet time with God. We need to understand that we have won the victory, we should be praying in the power of God believing and it shall be done. If we are fellowshipping with Him, Reading His word then all things are possible as we would then be in the same train of thought that He is. Once we have that relationship we can strengthen out prayer and by that we shall firm up our faith.
once we have the power of God working in our lives we can the stop the fatalistic defeatism we allow in. We can then Stand boldly before the throne of Grace asking Him our wants and needs and know that He will hear us.
This does not mean prosperity theory preaching. God does not want us all rich, successful, healthy, handsome and eloquent. If that was the case we would not need Him. He wants us humbled fully trusting in His grace each hour. God will bless us, but His ideas of blessings are far better than ours.
So when we pray we must seek His will, but we still can bring our wants to Him too. He is our Father and He wants to hear from us all about us.
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