Ask and Receive

0:00:00     You cannot miss the next more faith, more life podcast. I’m going to explain to you how to ask and how to receive and get the things you need from God. Don’t miss it. Are you missing out? No reason to. Here’s the book. If you only knew. A guide to the clueless generation. It’ll help you understand what’s going on in our country, in our churches and in our world. You’ve got to get this book. Hello everyone. Welcome to another more faith, more Life podcast. Today we’re going to talk about asking and receiving and how valid is it that we can ask and really receive?

0:00:28     What’s the boundaries for asking God for something? What does the Bible say about it? Of course, it’s such a huge, huge subject. We’ll only touch a little bit on it today, but I hope it’ll help you. Because when you operate by faith and you do things by faith, you believe by faith, you’re going to have more life because Jesus is a life giver. But the kingdom of God operates by faith, right? Not by fear, not by wishing, not by hoping. Even though hope is tied to faith, we get what we hope for. We got to believe what we’re hoping for. But it’s more than just hope. So we’re going to talk about that. And let’s go back just for a moment since we talked on the last podcast about the true meaning of what we call Palm Sunday and when all that was going on, Palm Sunday, which we talked about last week, but Jesus in Jerusalem, and he comes in riding on the colt, the donkey, and he goes in and he clears the temple and he curses the fig tree and all these things are going on, and Jesus is trying to play out, act out, if we can use that, what God’s opinion is of what’s going on in the temple and what’s going to happen if they don’t change, okay, so bad things are going to happen. It’s going to be a generation later.

0:01:42     But Jerusalem will be destroyed, the temple will be destroyed, a million people killed, lots of people injured. And he’s trying to talk to him about that now in the midst of all that he talks about, if you ask, you can ask. And if you don’t, doubt in your heart and you ask that you can have what you ask for, even to the point where he used the phrase, you can speak to this mountain, be picked up and thrown into the sea. We clarified that it applies to whatever you want to apply it to whatever your mountain is, but in context, it was not your need or their need, the context was the greatest need.

0:02:21     The greatest need was corrupt religion needed to be dealt with. Corrupt religion was keeping, get this, the corrupt religion in Israel at that time. Now, not the Israelites, not the Jews. This is not anti-Jew, this is anti-religion, whether it be Jewish or Christian or whatever, that controls for the wrong reasons and the wrong motives. Okay, so if they didn’t change, more bad was going to happen. But we’re already in bad because they’re occupied by Rome and that shouldn’t have any. They shouldn’t have another nation running them and dealing with. But their compromised religion opened the door to bad things and it caused them to miss the blessing and the promises of God, which I want you to have by more faith, more life. And I want our country to have it. I want countries in the world to have it. And so let’s think about this a minute. When he said the biggest problem then was not their mountain of financial debt or couldn’t pay their bills or not getting along with their wife. All those are important things. And they may be mountains in your life, but he’s talking about the biggest mountain of all that’s going to change history.

0:03:26     And that is the mountain of corrupt religion that loves money, loves to be seen, loves prestige and power. And this is in control and something has to be done about that. So the parable then comes where he’s going to take from one and give it to another. So he’s basically palm Sunday. What we call it is a pronunciation that he has the right to come in and judge the temple because he’s the messiah. Hosanna.

0:03:55     He comes walk riding in Jerusalem like a conquering king, right? Which says, I have the right, I’m the Messiah. I have the right to go in and say and do and act this out to show you what God thinks and what’s going to happen. So the biggest problem was not, as I said, the mountain of even the mountain of Rome being there. The biggest problem was the mountain of corrupt religion and it needed to be tossed into the sea.

0:04:23     And we know that to be true because the temple where it was called the temple Mount. It’s called the Temple Mount even today, but the Muslim temple is there instead of the temple, the Jewish temple, but it’s still the temple Mount. He says, if you can say to this mount or this mountain be cast into the sea and don’t doubt it’ll be done. Well, he’s basically saying that’s what he’s doing. That’s his faith operating right now to get religion straightened out that there’s compromise everywhere.

0:04:55     And we have that today. So it’s really difficult if you get around churches and big churches and big ministries and any ministries today, to not feel that money is really playing a big part of the decision making of how they look to people, how they’re going to present themselves. They want people to come. They want to grow a big church. They want to grow big money. And so they’ll say what needs to be said to gain that kind of church or that kind of denomination or that kind of religion. And that’s sort of what was happening in Jesus’ day. There was compromise everywhere to get the people to go along. And at the same time, the Pharisees are living well, they’re well respected. They get to run the town, basically, or run the temple. So there you go.

0:05:42     So that’s the first instance. Not the first instance, but that’s the first instance I want to use, where Jesus begins to say, you can ask and things will be done. Okay, that sounds really good. Now, if we put it in context with other scriptures, though, we have to understand that. For one thing, we’re talking to people who have a lifestyle. He’s talking to disciples who have a lifestyle that they’re all in.

0:06:08     They’re not in between. Peter at this time, he’s not fishing. He’s not saying, well, let me do fishing and do this too. He’s all. So that all in attitude is going to help increase what you ask and what you receive. Right. The all in attitude, the compromised, middle of the road. I’d like to ask, but I don’t. And so when you get around compromised religion, you’ll find out that compromised religion doesn’t ask for much.

0:06:34     They’ll do and try to do good things. But as far as really the power of prayer and asking and receiving, not because it doesn’t work that well, because compromised religion doesn’t work like it should. And so we suffer from it. Now, the apostle John, right, you know, John, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, he writes later, not the gospel of John, but later in the Bible towards the end of the New Testament.

0:07:02     And he says this, we know this, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if he hears us, we’re going to get what we ask for. All right, what’s the revelation there? What’s the teaching you can have so you can move forward in? That is, he says, we know that if we ask anything according to his will, then we’re going to get it. So the key is not in knowing how to ask. It’s not that you know how to say the’s and thou’s and all that stuff correctly. It’s not that.

0:07:34     It’s knowing the will of God. If you ask according to the will of God, it’s going to set it into motion. So we need to know what the will of God is. Correct. And if we knew what the will of God is, we knew what we could ask or see for. So if you ask according to God’s will, he hears us. So that’s the second problem. It’s not just asking according to God’s will, but we need to be heard. It’s what God hears. So imagine that people pray every day. People pray all kinds of stuff all day long, right? All over the world, but not everything that we call prayer, God calls prayer.

0:08:12     The only thing God calls prayer is what is being said that he actually hears. It actually gets to him, okay? It breaks through all the obstacles and he actually hears it because it’s according to his will. It’s in context of our character. So anyway, if we ask anything according to his will, we know we can have it. So we need to know what the will of God is, right? All right. Now we take it a step further and we go to the book of James.

0:08:38     It’s also towards the end. And the book of James tells us in the first chapter that we can ask for things. And he says, if anyone lacks wisdom, you can ask for it. Now, this is a great covering because wisdom covers everything, right? Wisdom isn’t saying or your prayers say, well, I need to make more money. Okay, well, maybe you just need more wisdom, too, and then put making more money is okay. It’s all right to pray that.

0:09:08     But that needs to be put under wisdom, right? That needs to be put under the will of God, wisdom, right? And then we’re going to make advances. Okay? So he says, if you ask for wisdom, then do not doubt in your heart, okay? Because if you doubt after you ask for something from God, if you doubt, he says it’s like a ship, a small ship, probably a boat in the sea. And you can just see it’s just being tossed and turned and twisted and waves coming over and up and down and sideways.

0:09:41     He says, that’s what we become. If we ask God, oh, yeah, I’m going to believe, and then I think I’m going to doubt. And now we’re being tossed. Well, maybe I should ask again. Maybe I didn’t ask correctly. Maybe I didn’t ask enough times. You know what I’m talking about? This is just what we do. And so we want to make sure are we in his will and then not doubt in our heart after we ask and we say, this is what I want, and we want to ask, particularly for wisdom, then part of the doubting, though, comes after wisdom comes.

0:10:13     So a lot of people don’t think they get anything from God, but a lot of times that’s because God’s not saying what you want to hear. So he says, if you ask for wisdom and don’t doubt and not be tossed around, then you’re going to get it. But it’s got to be what you’re wanting is the wisdom of God. And then once, listen, don’t just doubt when you ask, saying, okay, I’m going to ask by faith. I’m not going to doubt, I’m believing, believing, believing. No.

0:10:40     But after wisdom comes, don’t doubt. Because I think the wisdom of God comes pretty rapidly to most people. Wham, they ask, bang, there it is. Okay. But it’s not exactly what you want to hear. It doesn’t fit your lifestyle. It’s too difficult. You don’t understand it or you just put it off or whatever after you ask. Then as it comes, then believe it and don’t doubt in your heart, okay? Because otherwise it says, it’s like you’re a person with two brains, right?

0:11:12     You got the world brain and you got the God brain, right? And so what happens is you ask and then you start wavering and you go from brain to brain. Worldly brain, religious brain, God brain, worldly brain, selfish brain. And it’s like you’re a person with two minds and that makes you unstable. It says, in all your ways, because you don’t know a person of two minds who you’re going to be today. You don’t even know who you’re going to be. You get up which brain you’re going to be on, which mind you’re going to be.

0:11:47     And then other people, you’re unstable to other people, too, because we don’t know what we’re going to get. Show up at work, show up at church, show up at home, whatever. What are we going to get? Well, you might be in this mind of faith and love and power of God, and God’s great, and this is what it’s all about. And then your other brain kicks in or your mind kicks in another day. Oh, I don’t know. I don’t think this is working.

0:12:10     I don’t know if it’s worth it or not. Maybe I won’t go to church, it’s not all cracked up to be anyway, and you’re unstable. All right? So we need several things here because you can ask God and he will hear you, but you’ve got to first of all ask and not doubt, right? You got to keep your faith going. Don’t doubt, ask by faith, right? It’s got to be asking by the will of God. So you need that wisdom. Yes, wisdom. So you know what the will of God is. Take some time to figure it out.

0:12:43     This is what it is. The will of God is probably going to come quicker than you’re ready to hear it because it may not be what you want to hear because God’s always narrowing our lives down more on him. It’s always a narrow road. Narrowing, narrowing, narrowing down to. So it may not be what you want to hear. Okay, so Jesus goes back and he says, if you ask and you don’t doubt in your heart, right? John said, if you ask according to the will of God, then if you ask according to the will of God, you know he hears us.

0:13:18     Okay. And if he hears us, we know we’re going to get what we ask. But James says, when you ask, you’ve got to ask by faith without doubting. Because doubting is when you doubt. You’re like a person with two minds back and forth, and you’re going to be tossed like a boat ship in the seas, up and down, sideways, and the waves coming over you, crashing back and forth, and you become unstable. God’s good, God’s mean, God’s kingdom is really great. Oh, it’s not so great. Church is great. No, not so great.

0:13:48     Serving the Lord is the only way to go. Jesus is the only way to the father. Well, maybe there’s other ways. Maybe, okay, you’re unstable and so you become unreliable. Okay? And we need reliable people. We need reliable, stable, we need some stable believers, right? Stable churches, stable people on the mark. They know who they are. They know the wisdom of God. They know the will of God and they’re going to go for all those great things.

0:14:13     Now to make it a little more complicated, in the book of James, we said, if you ask for wisdom, ask, don’t doubt in your heart. And I believe it’s going to come. And then when it comes, don’t doubt that it’s God’s wisdom, right? Because chances are, yeah, you could miss it. Yeah, you could hear wrong. Yeah, you could be off. But chances are what happens to most people is the wisdom comes. It comes pretty quick, but it doesn’t quite fit what we expected. It’s not what we want, not what we hope for. We don’t know how to. Maybe we agree with it. We just don’t know what to do next.

0:14:43     All right, so then it comes down to Jesus saying, you can ask, but don’t doubt, right? John saying, ask the will of God. And, you know, he hears us, and we’ll get that. James saying, but don’t doubt, don’t waver. Don’t be a person of two minds. And then we continue to read James a little bit more in that book. Then we realize James says this, listen, this is why fights and quarrels. Why? Why do we have wars? People ask, well, if God’s a good God, why do we have wars?

0:15:19     Well, what is a war between two nations or whatever? What’s that got to do with God? He doesn’t start wars. No, it says, listen, what starts fighting among you? What starts a fight or quarrel? It says, you want something and you don’t get it. And now you’re angry. You’re upset. You’re just in turmoil. You’re just boiling on the inside, even if nobody knows it. So fighting and quarrels, and I want to stretch it out. It doesn’t say wars, but that’s what it turns into. A war in your home, war in your marriage, or war in a nation is the same thing.

0:15:55     Somebody wants something, they don’t get it, so they begin to fight and quarrel to get it. All right? That doesn’t break down that we can’t ask and get what we want. But he says, here’s what happens is if you’re going to do it, you need to check, I got it right here. You need to check your motives. You need to know because he says, listen, I better back up. And then he says, you don’t have because you don’t ask.

0:16:28     We don’t ask because we don’t really believe it’s going to happen. We don’t take the time to find out what the will of God really is and accept it and accept the wisdom of God. But the other thing here, when it says that you ask, you don’t have because you don’t ask because when you ask, you don’t receive. You don’t receive. Why? Because you’re asking with the wrong motives. And if you’ll back up in your own life and kind of look at the things you asked for and the things you wanted to do, you ask for God’s involvement back up and make sure.

0:17:03     Wasn’t there some motive in there that maybe was just a little bit off. I’ve had people even, I’ll use one example. I have to make it quick. Had a lady come to me years ago, and we had a prison ministry that we did every week. Not just us, but the church. A group of us hopped in the van. We took instruments, everything we did, praise, worship instruments, prayer. Went to a prison every week. And this lady came to me, and she was a young 30ish, in her 30s, attractive lady came to me and says, I want to go minister in prisons. I said, great, let’s do it.

0:17:47     And I said, so I set her up for a prison, and she didn’t want to do it. I said, why not? I said, well, that’s a women’s prison. That’s a women’s prison. I want to go minister in the men’s prison. And all of a sudden, click, because you think to yourself, okay, well, ministering in prison is a good thing. And our motives are. I help these. Oh, wait a minute, though. That was, if you clear the clutter, what was the real motive? She was doing to feel good about herself so she can go be in front of men and teach men, and men will say, you’re so great, you’re so loving, you’re so pretty.

0:18:20     And she’s right. I mean, talking in prison, we’re in prison with men in prison, and she wants to go and make that her ministry. Wrong motives. So I told her, I said, come on, we got men doing that already. Go to the women’s prison. Guess what? She never did. Never did. And they were just as much in prison as the men. Okay, so you ask for the wrong motives, right? And then think back of it. To spend more on your own pleasure and desire. So I want a new car. I’m frustrated because my old car looks stupid and it makes me look stupid, and I don’t want to look stupid. And so I need. Well, okay, God doesn’t mind you getting a new car, but you’re really doing it for the wrong reasons. You got something on your inside that’s cooking. You need to settle that right? You need to settle or the house or the job or spending more money or spending more money than you should or a certain job that you want. I want that job. Why? Well, because it’ll make me look good and look.

0:19:17     It’s good. It’s okay to look good and look successful, but the motive, you’re going to go to God. And God sees right through these motives because his motives are not selfish at all. And Jesus aren’t either. It’s always for the good of the kingdom. And sometimes we have to say, okay, if I do this and lay this foundation down, I get this job or whatever, I’m going to be kingdom faithful. My motives are right.

0:19:38     I’ll be blessed, too. You’ll be blessed, too. But the motive is, I want to advance the kingdom. I want to be kingdom correct. I want to do the will of God. I want to do what’s pleasing to the Lord. I don’t want to do it to be just more selfish, just more pleasure. I just got to have another TV, and I already got three. Whatever or all the reasons. Okay, so is asking right? Yes. Jesus said, ask and don’t doubt.

0:20:04     Right? John said, make sure it’s the will of God. If it’s get the will of God going right, and he’ll hear you. And then it also said, James says, but ask for wisdom. Ask for wisdom and don’t doubt when that wisdom comes. So you’ll just be tossed to and fro and then check your motives. Right. Asking works. But motives are really important because God’s got a pure heart and he looks on our heart. And a lot of times we say, well, I just want to go. I want to do it because I just want to get more people saved. I want to get more people. Okay, maybe. But you also probably want to have people admire you because you’re getting so many people saved. You got to watch it.

0:20:40     Got to watch it. A lot of people got motives that are not pure because they want to be seen in that. The Pharisees, they want to prosper, they want to be seen by people. They want to be admired. And that’s the downfall of the religion in Jesus day that caused the eventual collapse of the temple religion of his day. So asking works. Ask and you ask and God will do it. But learn how to ask, right? Learn that it goes all the way back to Palm Sunday. He starts talking all the way back through the Bible. We can’t ask.

0:21:13     Ask God’s way and take the time to do it right, and you’ll find out that he will not withhold anything good from you. If he’d give you his son, he’ll give you anything else. Every good and perfect gift comes down from above. Just need to learn how to do it God’s way. I hope that helped you today. More faith, more life. Don’t forget the book. If you only knew a guide to the clueless generation, you might step out in faith this time. Go to the website. More faith, more life. Why don’t you get my CD?

0:21:42     Find out if I can sing. I’ve been singing a long time. I can carry a tune. You ought to check that out if you want to. Or you can go to any of the other outlets and get it. But there’s other books there that you can get. I hope you’re enjoying this season that’s upon us and really pressing in to God more than ever. Because you’re going to need that relationship in this world that’s changing so rapidly. All right, till next time. Bye.