Because You Ask Not

My daughter-in-law, Brittney, is always winning something.  She's won concert tickets, CDs, hotel stays, door prizes at conferences, professional photoshoots - you name it - she's won it. The other day I received a group text she had sent to several family members with a picture of a local radio station logo and two gift cards to a fast-food restaurant with the message, "Bwhahaa, birthday winner!" She does love to rub it in....

I haven't had the same good fortune at winning all those prizes.  There is one very simple reason for that.  She enters the contests and I don't.  She makes the effort to place a phone call, or fill out a card, or "like and share" a Facebook post, or upload a video, while I just ignore most of those things.

I know that asking and receiving from God is far different than winning a prize by chance, but the principle is the same.  The book of James tells us, "Ye have not, because ye ask not." (James 4:2) 

I win not, because I enter not.  She wins because she takes the steps necessary to position herself to receive. How many times in my walk with God have I worried about something instead of asking God for the solution?  How many times have I wished for a situation to change but never really prayed about it in earnest?

God is not a genie in a bottle, there to grant our selfish wishes, but when we pray in line with His word, He will watch over his word to perform it.  (Jeremiah 1:12)  If we never speak His word in prayer, we do not place ourselves in a position to receive from Him.

This Tuesday, Brittney is scheduled to undergo open-heart surgery.  I know the outcome I want to see from this procedure.  Many people are praying for her and she is praying for herself.  We are believing that we will receive that outcome because we are asking.

Some people have asked me to tell Brittney that they are thinking about her.  In some cases, I know that thinking is all they are doing. There are others who will actually pray for her.  We often say that "our thoughts and prayers" are with someone.  In truth, neither my thought or yours will ever help a single person.  However, James 5:16 says " Confess your faults one to another, and pray for one another, that ye may be healed.  The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."

If you are someone who prays, I ask you to ask God to guide the hands of the surgical team, to allow no complications, to hasten her healing, and to bring her back home to her little girl with a new strength and energy - ready to enjoy life in a way she has not been able to do for quite some time.  Please help me in the asking, and I believe we will have the desire of our heart.