September 19 – Love = Obey

“Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” – John 14:13-15 (NASB)

It was a most solemn meal that Jesus had with His disciples on Thursday night before His death the next day. None of the disciples yet understood they were celebrating the last Passover meal Jesus would ever observe under the Law of Moses. In their pending hour of the departure of Jesus, He comforts them and promises the means that would provide them with the necessary resources to accomplish their task. They had come to depend upon Jesus’ immediate presence which would not be there in the same way. To ask in Jesus’ “name” does not mean to tack such an expression on the end of a prayer as a mere formula. It means our prayers as believers should be for His kingdom purposes and not selfish reasons. None of our merit qualifies our prayers in this promise but only the merits of the work of Jesus. In short, our prayers should be in pursuit of His glory alone. Of supreme importance is our obedience to His commandments. Love for Christ is inseparable from obedience. “My commandments” include the entire revelation from the Father. We obey because we love which is enabled by His work of grace in our lives.

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July 22 –Receive, Find, and Access Granted

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” – Matthew 7:7-8 (ESV)

Today’s passage is one we have considered previously but it is good and necessary for review. This is a training exercise we should do over and over and over again. So doing, it will become a natural response in times that we need God’s help. This is from what is called the Sermon On The Mount. Jesus was speaking to and teaching his disciples and many more who had gathered around him to listen to him teach. He was also speaking to us and this is a promise for us today. A promise we can take to heart and live by.  We all have needs throughout our life and Jesus knows that. We all are looking for the truth and knowledge and guidance. We all come to places where we might find our way closed. Jesus tells us to Ask for what we need and it will be made available; Seek what we are promised and we will find it; Knock when the door is closed and it will be opened. We can be thankful and rejoice to know that God responds to us when we ask, seek and knock. He is always there to respond.

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June 12 – Just Ask Rightly

“You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” – James 4:2-3 (ESV)

When we consider what God’s word teaches about prayer, we find that we are to ask—and to ask with humility, sincerity, and love, and with an understanding that God is sovereign and that His will is what we most wish to be done. For Jesus prayed in this way in the Garden of Gethsemane, praying “Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:16) It was a bold prayer and Jesus had the courage to ask God to do something humanly impossible. Yet He showed complete submission to the Father’s will. It was God’s sovereign purpose that kept the cup from being removed as Christ prayed. In the same manner, the boldness, childlikeness, and eagerness we demonstrate when asking God to do the impossible are not undermined by His sovereignty; they are mercifully controlled by it. With boldness we too can come before our Father, trusting Him to accomplish all we need and all we ask that is in accordance with His will. We can never ask for something that is too big for God to do. So let’s ask!

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April 23 –The Keep Doing So Factor

“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened.” – Luke 11:9-10 (NASB)

In need? Ask. Receive. Lost? Seek. Find. On the outs? Knock at the Entrance. This is a promise. But these are not promises we will receive substantive goods. Not promises of material prosperity. Jesus is emphasizing the effectiveness of prayer. A threefold promise. The triple exhortation is as follows: ask, seek, knock. Arranged in an escalating scale of intensity. Ask. Asking suggests humility and a mindfulness of our need. When we asks, we expect an answer. This demonstrates a faith in God the Father. Having such a faith makes the prayer warm and personal. Seek. Seeking is asking plus acting. We must be active in striving to obtain the fulfilment of our needs. For example, as we pray for a deeper knowledge of the Bible, we should also diligently search and examine the Scriptures. Knock. Knocking is asking plus acting plus persevering. We are doing the knocking again and again until the door is opened. Another translation would be “continue to ask, to seek, to knock.” We continue knocking at the door of the kingdom-palace until our King, who is at the same time our Father God, and our Savior, opens and supplies whatever is needed.

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April 5 – Ask and Receive

“But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” – James 1:5 (NASB)

Too often perhaps if even once, we are prone to expect to receive what we are “owed” or “due.” The faulty thought that leads to this includes the idea that we don’t need to ask to receive what we are entitled to. We speak out only when we feel disenfranchised. Continuing the lessons and promises from the book of James, we find this command is a necessary part of the believer’s prayer life. When we need wisdom we are to ask God to give it to us for God has wisdom in abundance available and He is eager to provide it for those who seek it. God intends that trials will drive those who believe to a greater dependency on Him. They show us our own insufficiency. James’ Jewish audience recognized this as the understanding and practical skill that is necessary to live life to God’s glory. It was not wisdom of philosophical speculation, but wisdom contained in the pure and peaceable absolutes of God’s will revealed in His Word and lived out. It is only this divine wisdom from God that enables believers to rejoice and be submissive in the trials and testing of our lives.

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December 8 – God Knows and He Loves

In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father.” - John 16:26-27 (NASB)

Christ teaches what He meant by praying in His name. He did not mean asking Him to ask the Father, as if the Father was indifferent to believers, but not to His Son. Asking in Jesus’ name means simply asking on the basis of His merit, His righteousness, and for whatever would honor and glorify Him. We are in the time of the year when we celebrate the birth of Jesus. During these days we see lots of decorations and lights and beautiful pictures. We see pictures which artists have made of what we call manger scenes. We are reminded that when Jesus was born his mother had only a feed trough to use for a bed for Jesus. Even as he lay there, our verse reminds us that he was the Son of God for he came from God the Father in heaven to live on earth as a human. Our verse tells us that as we believe that Jesus came from God and love Him, God knows that, and He loves us. Let's remember as we think of the time Jesus came as a baby, that He came from God because of God's love.

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March 31 – I AM The True Vine

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.” - John 15:1 

It is Thursday evening. Jesus and His closest disciples are in an upstairs room. Jesus is sharing His last Passover meal with them. They will be His Apostles and Jesus is also transforming the meal and establishing Holy Communion. These words are part of the Last Supper teaching. Jesus, knowing that very night He would be betrayed by one of them, arrested, tried and sentenced to death. His long hours of suffering would soon begin.  Before 6 p.m. Friday He would be dead. Over and over Jesus was telling them that He and the Father are joined in one purpose. Jesus is the true vine from which all others are born into and serve the Kingdom of God. Jesus is about to pay the ultimate price to preserve the fruit forever. Judas, the betrayer has left their company. The other disciples will see Judas once more and then never again. The promises we have are woven throughout this chapter. Promises of abiding, sustaining, pruning, and bearing much fruit. Promises of direct access to God to ask for whatever we need in the name of Jesus. And the promise that we will all be filled with Christ’s joy. 

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February 10 – “When Needing Wisdom”

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.” – James 1:5-8 (NIV)

Because context is important, our promises are sometimes in more than one or two verses – that is the case today. The promise today is boundless. “If any … should ask … gives generously … without fault … will be given.” But the promise has a requirement and a caution – “must believe and not doubt.”  When a friend asks for prayer, how do you respond? Do you say you will pray but actually, rarely remember to pray? Do you send folded hands emoticons suggesting that you are indeed praying?  When you are sincerely praying is it more than a feel-good acknowledgement.  We might ask God for wisdom to help us choose our right path. When we need wisdom we ask God; He promises to give richly without humiliating us⸺that’s important. God promises we will receive wisdom when we ask in faith believing.  Those who ask with doubt are double-minded people. No wishy-washing doubting allowed. Faith in God that He will hear our request for wisdom and provide what we need is essential. If you do not believe God can or will answer and if conviction is not truly in your heart, then like a rudderless boat being tossed by the wind and waves. 

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January 31 – A Direct Open Path

“In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.”  John 16:26–27 (ESV)

We learned a couple days ago in Apostle Paul’s first letter to Timothy, that there is only on mediator between us and God Almighty who is Holy and Righteous in all things. Becoming and being our go-between was the essential work and mission of Jesus, the Son of God. Those who believe in Jesus Christ and in what He has done for us, will often think of Him not as a negotiator but as a mediator working on our behalf. The Bible says Jesus does that for us and He is the only one between us and God who can mediate for us. What Jesus did for us by dying on the cross for our sin, and rising from the grave opened a direct pathway between us and God our Father.  That is the promise in today’s verses. Jesus tells us, that believing in Him and loving Him is the way to go directly to God. We are not required to go through any intermediary and we don’t need Jesus to be more of a Mediator than He is. God the Father loves us and gives us the right of in-person audiences before Our Father God. 

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June 25 – Ask, Receive

“And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you;”  -Luke 11:9  (ESV)

There is more to this verse and if we are familiar with it, we know that Jesus also said, “seek, and find; knock, and it will open.”  The promise we have today is this one.  Jesus calls us to ask and promises it will be given to you.  Jesus knows that asking is the biggest hump we must get over.  There is nothing more difficult asking.  We will long, and desire, and crave, and suffer, and end up asking only when we reach the extreme limit. If we were to study in depth this lesson, we would find that the asking is not for material or temporal things that break, burn, are stolen, rot and rust away.  It is asking for eternal things. The first asking is for the Holy Spirit. Without the Spirit of God, we receive nothing. We receive only after we come into a relationship as a child of God.  Then, when we ask for wisdom, we receive wisdom.  Then, when we ask it is because we recognize that our need of anything worth anything comes from God.  We must ask Him.  He promises that we will receive when in faith, we ask believing His promises. 

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April 19 – Asking and Knocking

“And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”  - Luke 11:9-10 (ESV)

Most  of us have no problems coming up with lists of things we need.  But finding help to satisfy those needs may be difficult.  When Jesus was on this earth and teaching, he offered promises and directions that were specific to getting what we needed.  Our verse today is one of those promises.  It is really simple but it requires us to have faith.  Jesus was describing how willing He was to help us.  His instruction was, “Ask.”  If we ask, it will be given to us and, “Knock.”  If we need someone’s help and attention, we knock on their door and hope they open it.  Jesus was telling the people that He was more willing to give what was needed and more willing to open the doors we knock on than an ordinary person who actually might have to be pestered and nagged a bit before they respond.  Our Heavenly Father is more willing than our neighbors or friends to respond to our needs.  If you ask for Jesus, you will receive Jesus and all you need.  If you knock on a door, He will open the door to what you need.

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February 29 – Asking, Sending, Helping, Abiding

“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.”  -  John 14:16-17 (NASB)

Chapters 13-17 in the Gospel of John are a watershed of promises. Jesus poured out his heart and love for his disciples and His prayer (John 17:20 NASB) establishes that Jesus included all believers in these promises. Today our promises are given by Jesus first to the eleven disciples left with Him.  Satan, having entered Judas Iscariot, is exposed sent out to do his evil deed.  Jesus first ‘asks the Father’ and with this began His priestly and intercessory work on our behalf.  He asks and promises to send to them ‘another’ Helper and the Greek word means “another of the same kind.”  Someone like Jesus Himself who takes His place to do His work. Jesus promises this someone will be a ‘helper.’ This is a kind of helper that is called “alongside to help, to encourage, to exhort.” He promises this helper will be with us forever as he come into us to dwell and abide.  'Abiding' has to do with God's Holy Spirit having permanent residence in all believers. This means Jesus gives us Himself. A powerful promise that God is not only with us, He is in us permanently – that is what ‘forever’ means. 

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February 10 – Worried About Welfare of Loved Ones

“For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened…If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”  -  Matthew 7:8, 11 (ESV)

Our verse and promise today comes from the Sermon on the Mount as it is commonly called.  It could be the first major recorded discourse Jesus gave about living in the Kingdom of Heaven.  Facing needs in our lives is to be expected. Our resources run out and need replenishing. This is true whether physical, spiritual or material resources.  The promise in verse 8 give us encouragement to know that God provides for those who ask, seek, and knock for resources.  Even in extreme cases as Jesus expounds on these promises with examples from every day life.  How do we treat our neighbor, our son or daughter when they are in need?  We follow God’s example and we give those in need, especially those we love and are related to, an abundant supply of what they ask for.  So, certainly God will do that for us. We know that because we who have shortcomings in character, are selfish and greedy yet still provide for our own.  God who's love for us is infinite will most certainly do that as well and Jesus is who we have learned from on how He respond to our needs.

Next: Worrying about what serving will cost us.

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January 6 – Need Wisdom? Ask to Receive

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”  -James 1:5  (ESV)

Are you facing a situation that you do not have a clear understanding about?  Do you need help sorting out the why and the wherefore?  You need wisdom to know what your next steps are to be.  Wisdom comes to us from God when we ask for it.  Remember King Solomon, when he asks for understanding and discernment.  God give him wisdom and makes him wise beyond that of any other person.  Our promise today is an ask-to-receive promise; for God says if we seek and ask for wisdom from Him, He will generously give the wisdom we need.  Are there not  many times in our lives, maybe today is one of those times for some of us, that we need wisdom from God to know and understand where He is leading us. Whenever we need wisdom, all we have to do is ask for wisdom and God promises to give generously all the wisdom we need and He will do so without making us feel silly or guilty for asking.  

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August 11 – Confidence in Confidence

“Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God  and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.”  James 1:6 (NIV)   

We do have a wonderful God and we can depend on Him to respond when we pray to Him.  Our verse today reminds us that we need to always live before God with the confidence that He has forgiven us when we have asked for His forgiveness. And we need to live with the confidence that He will provide the wisdom when we ask for it in faith believing. These are His promises to us an we need to trust Him to do that each time that we ask Him.  So if we have that confidence that whenever we have ask God for forgiveness He has forgiven us then we can approach Him and trust Him to respond to our requests for help in our lives whenever we ask.  This is a wonderful confidence with which to approach our great God with thanksgiving in our heart.  This is what pleases God. 

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July 31 - Wisdom to Think, Say, and Do

“But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”  James 1:5 (NASB)

Of all the promises God has given to us in the Bible, this is one of those we find most comforting.  We all encounter times of indecision because we don't know what is the best decision to make.  In this verse, we learn that God has made Himself available to help us choose the best way in anything we are facing. Whenever we need wisdom to guide us in our lives, we are invited to ask of God.  We are given access to His wisdom as a guide.  He promises to give to all generously and without reproach – that means he won't belittle us or shame us for needing to ask for help.  He will guide us and give us the wisdom we need.  Some have said that we can learn life's lesson through experience or wisdom and wisdom will help spare us unpleasant experiences.  God provides wisdom not only in choosing the best specific decisions but in learning how to live.  How to act and react, when to listen and when to speak.  God gives us wisdom to chose what to think about and what to do.  Think, say, and do makes up how we live and God says, “Ask me, I'll give your the wisdom to do that right.”  

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June 3 – Abiding Words

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”  John 15:7 (NASB)

Jesus spoke these words during the last time He gathered with His disciples around the Passover table.  He knew that his time on earth was coming to an end and He was about to face crucifixion, death, and that He would rise again and return to heaven.  He gives these promises to his disciples and they are promises for us as well.  The truths that Jesus taught His followers were not only for those alive then, but we believe His teaching was also for us who live today and follow Him.  His words are in us as they are in our lives because we have committed to live according to them.  We have this promise that God hears us while His words abide in us, and He will provide what we ask for according to His will.  Today, let's take His words and make them a part of our life through faith and walk according to them.  God is with us to provide all we need and all we need is to ask him.  

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May 14 – Don't Doubt, Believe Instead

“But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.”   James 1:6-7 (NIV)

We have a wonderful God who is willing and eager to help those who come to Him for help.  But we must never forget that He expects us to have faith and trust in  the promises He has made.  He promises to answer prayer and He sets the conditions in the above verse.  It is not enough just to ask God for help.  It is necessary to believe that He fulfills His promise to answer our requests.  That means we must keep our minds and hearts free of doubts because they can come and go and they lead to confusion.  When our needs prompt us to ask God for help, our faith must be fixed on God’s love and power to act on our behalf.  A doubting heart creates an attitude that is like a boat on a stormy sea. In a storm at sea, it is very difficult to maintain our progress and direction.  Our verse warns us that doubting that God keeps His promises results in losing our faith that He is willing and wants to help us. Let's keep our faith focused on God.  Believe, don't entertain the doubts but send them packing with your faith in God's promises.

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February 20 – Ask Accordingly and Receive

“And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.  And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.”   1 John 5:14-15 (ESV)

These verses give us real encouragement about presenting our needs and requests in prayers to God.  We read here the promise that God hears us when we pray to him asking for anything according to his will.  When we pray, we request the things we know He wants to give us.  This verse does not promise that we get anything we want when we ask because if we ask for something that God does not want us to have we are not asking according to his will.  How can we experience this promise?  If we keep in mind what God has promised to do for us – the promises we find in the Bible – and base our prayer requests on what God has revealed in these promises, we will have the requests we have asked of Him.  This is how we will see and receive what is promised in this verse.  Let's put our faith in the things we know God wants us to have and the rest comes as a blessing when we receive what we ask from Him.

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January 26 – Whatever In His Name

“In that day you will ask nothing of me.  Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.”  John 16:23 (ESV)

During the last evening and meal together with His disciples Jesus taught them many things.  This promise was given by Jesus when He was explaining how He would soon leave them and return to heaven.  He wanted them to know that God would not abandon them and that that God would answer their prayers as they would pray to God in His, Jesus', name.  We believe that these words of promise can be applied to our prayers today.  We have the wonderful privilege of praying to God, expressing our requests in the name of Jesus.  He is our Savior and He is our Lord.  When we pray in His Name, His Father in heaven accepts our prayers and responds by granting our requests.  Let's believe every day what Jesus promised in our verse. 

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