You do not have because you do not ask. ~James 4

Ask, and it will be given to you. ~Jesus in Matthew 7

If you don’t ask for His blessing, you forfeit those that come to you only when you ask.  In the same way that a father is honored to have a child [ask] for his blessing, your Father is delighted to respond generously when His blessing is what you covet most. ~Bruce Wilkinson, The Prayer of Jabez

I’ve already written about “Ask” (My Word for 2013), but I wanted to share this little message with y’all after today’s bold-faced reminder that I need to be “Asking” more. Oops! 🙂

I wanted to remind you in case – amidst the ‘Twenty-Thirteen’ noise – you’ve also forgotten to seek our Father’s hand & blessing in your life each day.

There’s no need to turn this biblical idea into an entire doctrine, as many have done. Yet – with that in mind – let’s remember simply that God wants us to ask Him for divine help. 

For favor.

For guidance & wisdom.

For blessings in our lives.

For His hand of protection.

For His love to shine in our hearts so we truly believe He loves us.

We don’t ask so we can spend our God-given blessings on the wrong things.

We ask so we can serve Him more faithfully. So that our needs (& our family’s!) will be provided for. So that we don’t succumb to temptation because we’re empty & have unmet legitimate needs.

We ask so that we can walk in His perfect grace & will for our lives. So that we can fulfill His plan for our lives – to know Him more and to freely share our gifts with the people around us! 🙂

In light of this, are you & I beginning to see more clearly why He loves when we ask Him to meet all our needs?

Jesus taught us in The Lord’s Prayer to ask His Dad for our daily bread!

And guess how often we should seek this bread from Him? Yep, daily! (I know, mind blown).

God’s assigned each of us a portion for every single day we’re living on earth. Wouldn’t it be a SHAME to forfeit His provision simply because we didn’t believe it existed… or because we doubted that something so good & so craved by us could actually happen? And happen every day at that!

This, my friends, is called doubt. Doubt is our enemy.

In Hebrews 11 we learn that,

Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

God is daring us to believe that He has what we need. He’s even daring us to believe that He’s real! We can’t please our heavenly Father or receive His full benefits without first believing in Him AND His goodness.

So… are you in need?  Then what are you waiting for – pray for God to take care of it!

And my God will fully satisfy every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. ~Philippians 4

Love, Summer