Ask And You Will Receive.

This is a common quotation in the bible, even a new christian knew this quotation from the bible (“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Matt 7:7).

But as Christians living in a fast-paced generation, we want our prayers to be answered immediately. We have lost the art of persisting in prayer, having faith and waiting on God.

Recently, I learned a lesson from my younger brother. He needed a new phone and has persistently asked me to get him a new phone. He requested a particular phone. As at the time, he was making this request I didn’t feel it was a need for him; so I promised to get him a phone as a Christmas present. You would think that the boy would leave me alone. No, he did not, he informed our mum that I had promised to get him a phone. Then he called me endlessly and sent messages and voice notes endlessly stating that he desperately needed a new phone. He also put the same pressure on our mum. So I had to get him the phone as a birthday gift this September.

Today, during my break time at work, I was thinking of all the things I need and how I am not getting them. Then I remembered the bible verse I quoted above – “ask and you will receive”. I told myself that I had prayed about them already. But, the holy spirit reminded me about the parable of the persistent widow (Luke 18-21). You can read about the story here. The Holy Spirit also reminded me of how I had to buy a phone for my brother because he persistently asked for a phone. I had to get him the exact phone he requested because I wanted to have peace and to make him happy.

Now I know that there are a lot of our prayers that may not be answered because we are praying amiss, or because God knew we weren’t ready for the answer or our prayers may be against the will of God for our life at that time. But, there are loads of prayers that we don’t get answers to because we are not asking persistently, or because we are not knocking and seeking answers hard enough.

You know another thing, I got from this reflection, is that sometimes you need to talk to someone else to help you ask (as persistently as you are asking). Maybe, this is the philosophy or should I say theology behind the Roman Catholics asking the virgin Mary – mother of Jesus to plead on their behalf. As we have seen in the bible, Jesus Christ started his miraculous ministry, earlier than He planned, because His mother asked a favour of him and He had to oblige His mother.

You see, I cannot tell if it was my mother’s constant reminder about my bother’s need or my brother’s persistent calls and messages that spurred me to keep to my promise earlier than planned. It probably is a combination of both. So why not also recruit others to pray along with you if you need to ask God for something and if you do not have someone to recruit, why not ask Mary, the mother of Jesus to plead with you? I know many protestants do not go the route of pleading with Mary. Until today, I too have never considered it. But, it is an idea I am willing to explore in my prayer life going forward.

So, have you learned something from this experinece and encounter I had today? Is there something you need to persitently pray about? Why no leave everythig you are doing and table it to God once again. God never fails. If we humans can grant good gifts to our children, friends, siblings, strangers etc, how much more our heavenly Fether. Oh! what loss we bear just because we do not persitently share our burdens with God.

Till I have another encounter to share, I hope you have learned,unlearned or relearned something from today’s post.

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