Ask, but only in the right position

No doubts - wouldn't this be a good way to live our lives?  To be in a place where every decision we make is perfectly certain, not tainted with worries or anxiety.  Is this even possible?  I don't know about you, but the closer I walk to Jesus, the more certain I am of my decisions and the less anxious I am to ask for the things I might need more than a little help with.  In fact, I find the things I desire to do and the things I desire for others in my life are much closer to the way God wants to do things the closer I am walking to him.  The further away I get from him, the more uncertainties enter into the picture.  Therefore, I can assume from this that getting right up close and personal with Jesus is the very best means of avoiding some of the foolish things I may decide on my own!

We can come to God with no doubts. This means that when we ask God for things (and those things agree with what God wants for us), God cares about what we say. He listens to us every time we ask him. So we know that he gives us whatever we ask from him. (I John 5:14-15 ERV)

Based on the finished work of Christ, and the fact we place our hope, faith, and trust in this finished work when we say "yes" to Jesus, we can stand assured as we approach God.  I daresay we approach God from a little bit of a selfish vantage point at first - with those "me", "me", "me" requests.  As we draw closer and closer to him, we find that "me" takes on less and less importance - we want to know what it is he wants for others around us, as well.  We see our focus expanding because this is just part of being close to Jesus - we begin to see things as he sees them.

At first, we don't always get this "asking" thing right.  We might ask for things which are not really in our best interest - kind of like the kid faced with 100 varieties of candies in the candy shop and being told he has "access" to all of them.  The first thing he does is load up on his favorites, then he has to have a little more of this, that, and the next one, just because he can.  Another important thing I have come to realize in my walk with Jesus is just because "I can" doesn't mean it is the right timing, place, or purpose in my life at the moment. 

The good news is really not that we "can ask", but that God helps us to clarify what it is we ask for.  He also doesn't turn a deaf ear to our requests, even when they may not be in our best interest at the moment.  He is listening to what we say and he does so each and every time - even when we repeatedly ask for the stuff he has said "no" to in the past.  I don't know about you, but I have little guys in my life who often ask for the same stuff I said "no" to in the past.  They kind of think I might just change my mind somewhere down the road, or perhaps they can wear me down if they just keep asking.

The truth is, we sometimes do the same thing to God.  We ask repeatedly for stuff he has said "no" or "not now" to in our lives.  I think we might just hope he will somehow be "worn down" by our persistence!  I guess it should come as no surprise to me that we do this because it is human nature.  The good news is that God isn't afraid to say "no" or "not now" whenever he knows what we ask for isn't in our best interest, or is based on timing which is inappropriate for us. 

Some new believers latch onto this passage early in their walk, thinking God gives us "everything" we ask for.  I want to caution us against such a belief.  If we examine this passage again carefully, there is a condition to the asking/receiving part of this promise.  When we draw close enough to God to understand his will for our lives, our prayers align with his will - he gives us what we ask.  The condition is our "position" in relation to receiving.  Get close to him and your asking changes a whole lot.  Draw further away and the asking reverts to the selfish type we are all prone to drift into now and again.  Just sayin!

You good at asking?

Did you ever stop to consider why the God of the Universe, the one who made all things and knows all things, requires us to ask for whatever it is we need or want?  It seems contradictory to who he is, doesn't it?  To have to ask when he knows already seems kind of foolish on the surface, but if you stop to consider what "asking" entails, you may come to a revelation of the true purpose of asking.  You see, asking requires us to humble ourselves, not to mention allow for a clarification of our wants and needs.  Have you ever sought one thing, only to find when you received it the "thing" did not do for you whatever you hoped it would?  I have and it was then that I realized just how much I didn't really need what I asked for - it was just something to "fill space" in my life, but that "space" really should have been occupied by something else (or someone else).

This is God’s Message, the God who made earth, made it livable and lasting, known everywhere as God: ‘Call to me and I will answer you. I’ll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own.’ (Jeremiah 33:2-3 MSG)

Asking is a process - not a one-time thing, but a developing process.  To truly understand what is behind our "asking", we have to understand the process:

- It entails us having either a want or a need.  The difference is that one of these is sort of like icing on a cake.  Cake alone is good, but put the icing on it and it is great.  A need is like the cake - it provides what will bring satisfaction.  The want is like the icing - it provides that little bit of "wow" into our lives which we long for in some way.  

- It involves knowing the difference between the two.  As long as we are confused as to the difference between a want and a need, we will constantly be asking for our wants rather than our needs.  A steady diet of icing will only put us on sugar-overload!  Although there may be a little "high" from having the want met (just like you get from a sugar high - that sudden burst of energy), it is short-lived and soon we are "let down" by it (as when your body adjusts to having expended that short-lived energy boost).  What we need is what will sustain us for the long-haul.

- It requires us to be humble enough to ask.  This is often the place of "rub" in our lives.  We will do almost anything in our own effort BEFORE we ask for help!  It isn't until we have failed to bring about what it is we need that we humble ourselves enough to ask.  What is up with that?  I think it is our humility God may be after in this "asking" thing - because he wants us to learn to rely upon another, not just ourselves.  Too many of us start out thinking we cannot be "dependent" upon anyone for our "success" in life.  In time, God will bring all of us to the same conclusion - life lived "independent" of his care and protection is just not life lived to its fullest!

- It begins with us putting into words whatever it is we have need of.  This is the second biggest "rub" in this process because we often have a hard time articulating what it is we need.  We just cannot find the words to express it - or we just plain don't know.  I think this is why Jesus tells his disciples that they can rely upon the Holy Spirit to give them utterances even they don't understand themselves.  Just because we don't know how to put into words what we have need of doesn't mean God doesn't need to hear from us - he provides the Holy Spirit to "utter those inner needs" directly into the ear of our heavenly Father.  

- It calls for us to be open to hearing.  Therein is the next "rub" in this process of asking - for it is much easier to speak about what we need and then so very hard to be quiet long enough to actually hear how it is God might plan for us to have that need met!  Part of asking is being quiet - putting the need out there and then resting in our position of humble waiting.  Waiting is not the strong-suit for many of us - me included.  So, this process of waiting and listening is difficult and requires sometimes more of us than the actual "asking" does in the first place!  Yet, it is the part of the process where we get clarity and begin to see God at work in our lives.  Apart from hearing, we have just "us" in the picture!  Hearing allows God to be "brought in"!  Just sayin!

You reading my mind?

If you have ever used the term, "You must have read my mind", then you probably had someone show up with just the right thing you needed at that moment, coming through for you without you even having to ask for their assist, etc.  Truth be told, they didn't read your mind - they anticipated your needs, did the neighborly thing, or just listened to the voice of God!  Man does not read man's thought - God does!  Wouldn't it be great if we could read God's mind?  To truly figure out this whole mess we call life and know the end from the beginning?  Well, according to what he told Jeremiah, we can!

For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.  Then you will call upon Me, and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear and heed you.  Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me [as a vital necessity] and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:11-13 AMP)

Thoughts and plans for welfare and peace, not for evil, and to give us hope in our final outcome!  Welfare is really our "well-being" - the condition of being and doing well.  Peace is something which eludes us at times because we live in the opposite of peace, being affected by our circumstances so much our emotions are in a frenzy most of the time!  God's plans are for us to know AND live in peace - not frenzy, worry, or fear.  God doesn't plan or have thoughts of evil for our lives - but of good.  He doesn't want us to lose hope, though the journey will be long and the road ahead pocked with potential pitfalls.  His plans and his thoughts are for our good!  

So how is it we don't understand the mind of God?  He puts it quite plainly in this passage.  It might just be because we don't finish the passage!  The rest of the passage gives us hints on how it is we learn to tap into the thoughts and plans of God for our lives:

* We have to ask.  He says we need to "call upon him".  Too many times, we get in the midst of our mess and we forget who holds the mess in the palm of his hands!  We don't ask, so we don't receive the understanding we need.  James reminds us, "If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who “worry their prayers” are like wind-whipped waves."  (James 1:5-6 MSG)  If we don't know, we are to ask.  We only get to know another's thoughts when we take time to explore them.  Isn't it silly how much time we actually take "worrying" our way through life and the answer is really right at our fingertips?

* We have to seek.  If you really take this in context, you will see there is a sense of urgency or earnest which is described in this passage.  We are to require God as a vital necessity for life itself.  It is a seeking which is directed from the heart.  Since the heart is made up of our emotions, this is suggestive of some form of passionate and intense seeking.  Earnest is an intense and serious state of mind, with a sense of importance planed on that which is sought after.  In other words, we place an "importance" on finding what it is we seek.  When we do so, there is a drive from within which is deeply felt.  It is not casual, or cursory.  When we get serious about finding God's plan, we realize seeking takes some effort on our part.  If you have ever sat down to truly get to know another you have an interest in, you know only a fraction of the "investment" it takes to develop that relationship.  God asks nothing less of us - in fact, he asks more.  Seeking involves not only our minds, but our hearts.  In turn, it involves our obedience.  

What is the outcome of this asking and seeking?  I think it is found later in the 29th chapter, verse 27, when Jeremiah hears from God, "Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is there anything too hard for Me?"  We learn God has it all in his hands.  Nothing is out of his control or exceeds his abilities / capabilities.  What escapes our minds-eye never escapes his.  What befuddles our thinking is clear as crystal to him.  If we want to know God's thoughts and his plans for our lives, we need to follow the pattern he lays out for actually finding them.  Just sayin!