Dear SCC & Friends,
Ask… ~Matthew 7:7
Reflection #193
There is a difference between asking and hoping, as one is proactive in nature and the other is a posture of heart. Asking implies expectation of a response. “Ask” has many synonyms… beseech, entreat, inquire, request. Asking is the portal through which our faith is activated. We’ve asked God to forgive our sins. We asked to receive Him into our lives for His glory and honor. None of us have all the answers, but we know the One who has no limits… the inexhaustible, immeasurable, incalculable, unfathomable, infinite riches of Christ. A quick grammar lesson reminds us that verbs are action words. The Greek verb tense for ask implies an ongoing process… Keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you. ~Matt. 7:7 CSB All of our prayers, petitions and supplications begin in asking. …but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests (asking) be made know to God. ~Philip 4:6
Two things I asked of You, do not refuse me before I die; keep deception and lies far from me, give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is my portion… ~Prov. 30:7-8 Once I asked a fellow pastor how he had come to have so many talented musicians in his church. He looked me dead in the eye and said, “You won’t believe it.” I replied, “Try me.” He said, “I simply asked for them.” It hit me like a ton of bricks, because up to that point, I simply had never asked. When we ask God for something, He reserves the right to do what is best for us, and that’s all we need… food that is our portion. I’ve often said if I got what I wanted, I would have married the wrong person, for the wrong reason, at the wrong time with the wrong results. Thanks be to God I did ask the right person, at the right time and for the right reasons. The lines have fallen in pleasant places… All of us forever remain clay in the Potter’s hand… asking, seeking and knocking. …You were made for these days… Keep up the good work!
Ask and you shall receive,
Kevin