Prayer is Asking...and Receiving
by an Old Disciple
“And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”~Matt. 21:22
Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.”~Jn. 16:24
And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.”~ 1 Jn. 3:22
My dear old evangelist friend Dr. John R. Rice, now with the Lord, has a book entitled, Prayer, Asking and Receiving. Prayer is more than asking, it involves receiving also. Not just asking — anyone can do that, even the heathen to their idols. The receiving what one requests is what sets Christians apart from this religious pagan world.
God gets no glory from the former; it is the latter that brings Him the glory due His name.
Jesus told His followers, “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”~ Jn. 14:13 Baal’s prophets prayed all day and didn’t receive any answer, Elijah prayed to his God, uttering only 63 words, and received an answer.
Does God answer all prayers? Most certainly not! Both in His infinite wisdom and foreknowledge He alone understands all the ends and outs of our petitions.
But there is one thing for certain, the pray-er gets more answers than the not-pray-er. There have been untold numbers of them the last two millennia, and they’re still waiting to receive, but in vain.
This past week I went to Lowe’s and bought a shower door. It was very heavy and for that reason I asked a fellow in the parking lot if he could put it in the back of my small Chevy hatch-back. On my way home I asked the Lord to send a man to help when I arrived at my mobile home. After I pulled into the drive, just as I was getting out of my car, the manager walked up the drive passing out info on the virus. I asked if he could help me with the weighty shower door, explaining my heart condition plus having an operable aortic aneurysm. He is a burly man and said, “No problem Mr. Sandlin, I’ll handle it myself.” Someone says, “Yes, but he was there already.” Right, but not walking up my drive at that split second.
The early Christians in Acts had their prayers answered daily. It was something awesome to them, but was not out of the ordinary.
THEIR GOD WAS NOT JUST A PRAYER HEARING GOD, BUT A PRAYER ANSWERING GOD! Jer. 33:3
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