WHY SHOULD WE ASK?


A. "ASK, AND IT SHALL BE GIVEN YOU. . . FOR EVERYONE THAT ASKETH RECEIVETH" - MATTHEW 7:7
  1. This simple instruction by our Lord:
    1. Is to encourage us to come to our heavenly Father and ask His blessings upon our lives
    2. It reveals that He is able and ready to supply all our needs - Phil. 4:19
  2. This petition is at once:
    1. The easiest approach to God in prayer
    2. It shows that God will bestow His blessing upon those who ask Him for it
B. WHY SHOULD WE ASK
  1. The Saviour says, "Your Father knoweth ye have need of, before ye ask" - Matt. 6:32, 8
    1. Why should we ask? He knows before we ask
    2. Since the Lord loves us, then why does He not give things to us without asking
  2. there are many things that come to us before we are able to ask for them:
    1. When we are born into the world, things are waiting for us
    2. Many people live most of their lives without asking - James 4:1-3
  3. Let me attempt to give you a number of reasons why the Lord provides that we should ask for things:
    1. Our asking God for things is a recognition by us that all good gifts come from Him - James 1:17
    2. Said Jesus, "For without me, ye can do nothing" - John 15:5
    3. God created us so that we are totally dependent upon Him, says Paul; "For in Him we live, and move, and have our being" - Acts 17:28
    4. Also, our asking in prayer teaches us to appreciate the many blessings the Lord bestows upon us
    5. Ingratitude is one of the last day signs of the moral corruptions in the world Rom. 1:28-32; I Tim. 3:1-5
  4. But, there are still deeper reasons why the Lord ordained for man to ask for His blessings:
    1. This is one of His ways to reveal His love to His beneficiaries - John 3:16; James 1:17
    2. It is to stimulate childlike confidence in our hearts - Heb. 10:35-39
C. "ASK, AND IT SHALL BE GIVEN YOU; SEEK, AND YE SHALL FIND; KNOCK, AND IT SHALL BE OPENED UNTO YOU. FOR EVERYONE THAT ASKETH RECEIVETH; AND HE THAT SEEKETH FINDETH; AND TO HI THAT KNOCKETH IT SHALL BE OPENED"
  1. Here we have a part of the law of prayer:
    1. God is ever willing and ready to supply from the storehouse of His goodness - Matt. 7:11
    2. He will not withhold one good thing from us - James 1:5
    3. But all the gifts of God are upon the one reasonable condition - "ask"
    4. Can any reasonable person think of more liberal terms
  2. If, therefore, we are destitute of the blessings of life:
    1. It is simply because we are unwilling to obey the law of prayer - we refuse to "ask"
    2. Writes James, "Ye have not, because ye ask not" - James 4:1-3
    3. Can it be, dear friends, that the church of Laodicean is destitute of spiritual life
    4. This seems to be the basic sickness of Protestantism in general - Rev. 3:1
  3. What are some of the basic reasons for neglecting prayer:
    1. Self-sufficiency on our part is one contributory cause for the neglect of prayer
    2. Note the testimony of the true witness, "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing" - complacency is at the bottom of it all
    3. Spiritual blindness by us is another damaging factor - "And knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind and naked" - Rev. 3:17
  4. Friends of mine:
    1. It is high time for us to cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light - Rom. 13:11-14
    2. It is high time for us to seek the Lord in earnest prayer and supplication; that he may have mercy upon us, forgive our sin of indifference and pour out the latter rain - Is. 49:8 "it is even the time of Jacob's trouble" - Jer. 30:7


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