"Ask and you will receive".....

[Rizzo]

Jesus said "Ask and you will receive."
There are several verses in the Bible that state this.

It is a straightforward statement.
It does not say that you will receive "someday"....weeks, months, years later?
There is a passage that has a qualifier in it which states to ask sincerely in Jesus' name.

Regardless, in my experience, my sincere "asks" have not been "received".

I may have told this story before about my nephew and his wife.
She was pregnant with twins, but one had medical issues and they were told that the baby would not live.
He was an associate Pastor at his church and the whole congregation took part in some heavy prayer to God to save that child.
"Ask and you will receive."
This went on for several months.
He told me that God would answer their prayers and then the world would know that prayer and miracles do happen.
It was a really big deal for all in the congregation.

Unfortunately the baby did not make it to birth.
I thought that because of that his faith would be shattered.
I'd imagine that to some extent it did but he has continued in his faith.

I do not "ask" (prayer) much anymore because I have also sincerely "asked" and did not receive.
But, I may be at a stop light and see some person all crooked and limping across the street and it saddens me.
I do say a quick prayer for help for that person but quickly get frustrated because of my past experiences in "asking".
I sigh and tell myself "Your will Lord, not mine".

Perhaps the passage isn't as straightforward as it seems.
If I pray and ask God that I not be so quick tempered, would I receive my "ask"?
More likely He would not change me but give me opportunities to practice not being so quick tempered.
I really do not know. It does say simply "ask and you will receive".
Yet,.....not really.

Have you asked and have received?
I'm interested in reading some examples where you know your prayer was answered.
I do not mean that just before you shoot a deer that you ask God for you to not miss the shot, and then you have success.
I mean serious stuff.

[Martin Luber]

A wife, and a child....but it did take a while.

Rolling Stones song...You Can't Always Get What You Want....but you get what you need.

What will be will be, it's beyond me to argue.

[CastingFool]

The bible says He will give you the desires of your heart (I'm sure there's more after that) might be years, or it may be immediately. Or it may be when least expected. All I know is that I'm thankful when i recognize when I have received the desires of my heart. It has happened in my life a few times. When it doesn't happen, I figure it must not be right for me.

[Half Dog]

I too have asked and didn't notice receiving. Now I just ask that God's will be done and accept my circumstances.
If I am wrong, please set me straight.

[obssd1958]

Short version -
When I was about 20, I went hunting at the edge of an Idaho wilderness area with a friend who had just had a cast removed from his leg, and his wife. I had never been there before, but my friend insisted he knew the area well. We got lost, and were without proper clothing or any survival supplies. That night, laying on the ground, shivering in the light rain that was coming down, while my friend and his wife were huddled together a few feet away, I prayed for God to give us a way out, or give me a sign of which way to go. Of course I promised that I would be good for ever more...
A little while later, I heard the unmistakable sound of a truck lumbering up a grade, and shifting through the gears. I focused in on where I thought the sound was coming from.
Once it became light enough to walk again in the morning, I insisted that we go in the direction that I had heard the truck - they didn't hear it, and tried to insist we go the opposite direction. I managed to get my way, and after many hours of walking in the lead, we hit the last 100 feet of an old logging road. That leaves only one direction to follow out, and we made it back to an access point going into the wilderness, just a couple hours later. A young gentleman and his hunting partner had set up their camp there, and once we had gotten something to eat and drink, they took us back to where we had left our truck the previous day - about 10 miles away.
Looking at a map afterwards, there was no where for miles and miles, that a truck could have been heard going up a grade that night.
I believe with all my heart, that God answered my prayer.

[MT Gianni]

Don, There is no better blessing than finding the end of a road. You then have no hesitation which way to go.

[OutHuntn84]

I have a theory; lets say you go stand on the train tracks. Before the train is in sight you feel the tracks vibrating. You see it come around the bend. You hear the whistle blowing. You resist all your God given fight or flight urges, bow your head and start praying heavy. What do you think happens next? Go ahead use that amazing brain matter the good lord gave ya. Doesn't take a rocket scientist now does it.

Now I think every man should have a solid personal relationship with their lord and savior. So I find it very likely he will promptly slap you in the back of your head at the pearly gates and explain that you already had every blessing necessary to get out of that situation yourself. God has already given us free will and a mountain of blessings we take for granted every day. I don't ask God to solve my problems, but I do ask for guidance, wisdom, courage, patience, you get the idea. If I find it is beyond my control I freely give it to God because it was never meant for me to control in the first place

Thanks for sitting through my religious boot strap talk lol.

[CastingFool]

That's excellent, Outhuntn84!

[tankgunner59]

The Bible does not tell us that we will receive at any particular time. Any/everything we ask will happen according to His will, and in His time. We must be patient as the Bible also tells us to wait on God.
I was made fun of all my teenage life because I had several opportunities to bed a girl just for the sex. I wasn't interested in one night stands or whatever one will call it. I was looking for a relationship, and I prayed most of my life to that end. I married my first wife because I got in a hurry to have my family life, it didn't last long at all. I was 28 when we met and 29 when she divorced me.
When I was 34 I was sharing a house with a friend and his girlfriend. We had a friend in a country band and went to see them one weekend. As we were all getting ready to go, believe it or not, God spoke to my heart. I told my friends that I would meet the woman I have been looking for tonight. My friend asked how I knew and I told him that the Lord told me. He didn't believe me. That night we were with some other friends from work. The wife of one of them hadf some friends there that we didn't know. One ladu=y was supposed to meet her ex-husband that night and he didn't show. When it was stated by her sister that Ruth needs someone to dance with our friends wife raised my hand and said this is her dance partner for tonight. Long story short, we have been married 26 years this past May.
I have no doubt in my military mind that this connection was directed by God.
People ask, how do you know that God is speaking to you, and I reply, you feel it in your spiritual heart and when it happens you know it! Just know that when we pray God always answers, but sometimes the answer is No. It may seem harsh but He has His reasons.

[dverna]

I have a theory; lets say you go stand on the train tracks. Before the train is in sight you feel the tracks vibrating. You see it come around the bend. You hear the whistle blowing. You resist all your God given fight or flight urges, bow your head and start praying heavy. What do you think happens next? Go ahead use that amazing brain matter the good lord gave ya. Doesn't take a rocket scientist now does it.

Now I think every man should have a solid personal relationship with their lord and savior. So I find it very likely he will promptly slap you in the back of your head at the pearly gates and explain that you already had every blessing necessary to get out of that situation yourself. God has already given us free will and a mountain of blessings we take for granted every day. I don't ask God to solve my problems, but I do ask for guidance, wisdom, courage, patience, you get the idea. If I find it is beyond my control I freely give it to God because it was never meant for me to control in the first place

Thanks for sitting through my religious boot strap talk lol.

I am in the same boat....you put it very well.

[obssd1958]

I have a theory; lets say you go stand on the train tracks. Before the train is in sight you feel the tracks vibrating. You see it come around the bend. You hear the whistle blowing. You resist all your God given fight or flight urges, bow your head and start praying heavy. What do you think happens next? Go ahead use that amazing brain matter the good lord gave ya. Doesn't take a rocket scientist now does it.

Now I think every man should have a solid personal relationship with their lord and savior. So I find it very likely he will promptly slap you in the back of your head at the pearly gates and explain that you already had every blessing necessary to get out of that situation yourself. God has already given us free will and a mountain of blessings we take for granted every day. I don't ask God to solve my problems, but I do ask for guidance, wisdom, courage, patience, you get the idea. If I find it is beyond my control I freely give it to God because it was never meant for me to control in the first place

Thanks for sitting through my religious boot strap talk lol.

Underneath, my story holds the same convictions as you. You said it better though! God didn't just come pluck me off the mountain and set me down on the road beside our truck. It took the faith that he was in the lead, and I had to do my part.
Believe me, my friend and his wife were not convinced that following me (or God) was the right thing to do, and they questioned and drug their feet the whole time.
I wish I could say that they were saved that day, but they called it "luck".
I know better.

[1hole]

"Luck" is always the answer for God's blessings to those who don't believe. God always answers prayer; sometimes it's "Yes" and immediate, sometimes it's "Okay, but later", sometimes it's "No" but it's never luck.

The Bible was written by Hebrews, to Hebrews who have a great understanding of what a simple comment like "Ask and you shall receive" means. We take it to mean whatever we want we can have but that would sometimes be a disaster because we don't know what is best for us; God does and his answers to prayer includes a knowledge of what we ask, good or bad, will do.

Thankfully, God is not a great Santa Clause we can manipulate into giving us everything we want; that would be a disaster. I've learned to recognise that his "No" or "Later" works out better for me and everyone else, just as Jesus prayed, "Nevertheless, not my will but your's be done". Meaning that even in the most painful situations I, like Jesus, trust (have faith) that He is doing the right thing for me and everyone I'm praying for.

SO, I know my every prayer is answered even tho I may not like the answer

[dverna]

The tough aspect of faith is trust when things go badly. It is difficult to accept the death of a young child or grandchild as meaningful in God's plan. Or unborn children that God knows, in His omniscience, that will be aborted by the mother.

At a "lower" level of intelligence, it is not questioned and accepted as "God's Plan". At a "higher" level of intelligence, are those who demand understanding and, in frustration, lose faith in a God they cannot understand. At the "highest level of intelligence comes realization we are not as smart as we think we are.. we accept our limits...and trust in God.

[Ickisrulz]

"Ask, seek and knock": is found in Matthew 7:7-8. Basic human experience shows us that not everything we ask for is granted by God. Even many sincerely selfless requests made while exercising genuine faith are not granted; not immediately, later or ever. So maybe, just maybe this passage doesn't mean what we might think it does, especially when the context is not considered.

Here's the context:

First Jesus says the following "Judge not lest you be judged": We are not to got out of our way to find fault with our brother or pass judgment on him as if we are God. When a problem is found we are to gently help (remove that mote it is causing pain).

Jesus immediately follows up with "Don't cast your pearls before swine": When people have demonstrated they are antagonistic toward the things of God you have shared with them, it is time to move on and not waste your time and resources. This is a severe response to adversaries.

We have two possible course of action. We are to discriminate, but not to judge. How are we to know when to act one way or the other? I suggest this is where the "asking, seeking and knocking" come into play.

[Rizzo]

Short version -
When I was about 20, I went hunting at the edge of an Idaho wilderness area with a friend who had just had a cast removed from his leg, and his wife. I had never been there before, but my friend insisted he knew the area well. We got lost, and were without proper clothing or any survival supplies. That night, laying on the ground, shivering in the light rain that was coming down, while my friend and his wife were huddled together a few feet away, I prayed for God to give us a way out, or give me a sign of which way to go. Of course I promised that I would be good for ever more...
A little while later, I heard the unmistakable sound of a truck lumbering up a grade, and shifting through the gears. I focused in on where I thought the sound was coming from.
Once it became light enough to walk again in the morning, I insisted that we go in the direction that I had heard the truck - they didn't hear it, and tried to insist we go the opposite direction. I managed to get my way, and after many hours of walking in the lead, we hit the last 100 feet of an old logging road. That leaves only one direction to follow out, and we made it back to an access point going into the wilderness, just a couple hours later. A young gentleman and his hunting partner had set up their camp there, and once we had gotten something to eat and drink, they took us back to where we had left our truck the previous day - about 10 miles away.
Looking at a map afterwards, there was no where for miles and miles, that a truck could have been heard going up a grade that night.
I believe with all my heart, that God answered my prayer.

The "phantom" truck in the night that you heard in the distance is pretty interesting.
Whether you actually heard it (physically), or mentally in a dream, or God put the sound in your brain really doesn't matter.
You received a "navigational" direction to walk to that eventually got you back.

Then, "Looking at a map afterwards, there was no where for miles and miles, that a truck could have been heard going up a grade that night."

Good story.
Thanks for sharing your experience.

[Rizzo]

The Bible does not tell us that we will receive at any particular time. Any/everything we ask will happen according to His will, and in His time. We must be patient as the Bible also tells us to wait on God.

Correct, it does not say "when" you will receive, it just says that you will receive.
In the case of my nephew's wife with the twins, congregational prayer went on for several months but in the end one of the twins did not make it.
One could say that God said "No" and allowed the baby to die.
But the various passages do say "ask and you will receive".
They ( my nephew and wife and the whole church congregation) prayed and prayed (asked) and sadly did not receive.

"Luck" is always the answer for God's blessings to those who don't believe. God always answers prayer; sometimes it's "Yes" and immediate, sometimes it's "Okay, but later", sometimes it's "No" but it's never luck.

Then the passage "ask and you will receive" should have been "ask and you will receive...maybe"
It is stating that you will receive. The only variable would be "when".
So perhaps "ask and you will receive...at some point".

If God always answers prayer and His answer is no, how do we know He said no?
When we do not receive our "ask" we assume the answer is no?
Wouldn't it be contradictory to say no when the passages say that you will receive?

[Rizzo]

I want to clarify something here.
There are several Bible passages that I disagree with.
"ask and you will receive" is one of them.
I am not Bible bashing here or wanting to "throw the baby out with the bath water" so to speak.
As I am getting older and wiser, I see things a little differently than I did when I was younger.
I am more critical and need more detail to more fully understand things.

What seems to be a straight forward Bible passage isn't so straight forward in this case, in my opinion.
That kind of bugs me because the Bible is held in such high regard yet it has my head spinning sometimes.
We, in this Physical World, just do not have the brain power to understand some of these things and some turn to the Bible (man's instruction manual) for answers....only to find more confusion.

That is where Faith comes into play.
My wife says to me "Quit trying to figure it all out....you can't. Just accept the fact that you can't and quit torturing yourself trying to figure it out".

True, very true.

[Rizzo]

"Ask, seek and knock": is found in Matthew 7:7-8. Basic human experience shows us that not everything we ask for is granted by God. Even many sincerely selfless requests made while exercising genuine faith are not granted; not immediately, later or ever. So maybe, just maybe this passage doesn't mean what we might think it does, especially when the context is not considered.

Here's the context:

First Jesus says the following "Judge not lest you be judged": We are not to got out of our way to find fault with our brother or pass judgment on him as if we are God. When a problem is found we are to gently help (remove that mote it is causing pain).

Jesus immediately follows up with "Don't cast your pearls before swine": When people have demonstrated they are antagonistic toward the things of God you have shared with them, it is time to move on and not waste your time and resources. This is a severe response to adversaries.

We have two possible course of action. We are to discriminate, but not to judge. How are we to know when to act one way or the other? I suggest this is where the "asking, seeking and knocking" come into play.

I do not see how the context that you posted alters the "ask and you will receive" passage.

As mentioned before, I went and searched for passages with that text and found several.
I read the context of each and still came away with it being a straight forward statement, except for when we would receive.

Perhaps, like you mentioned, the passage doesn't mean what we think it means.
I agree, since it does not ring true in my experience.

[Ickisrulz]

I do not see how the context that you posted alters the "ask and you will receive" passage.

As mentioned before, I went and searched for passages with that text and found several.
I read the context of each and still came away with it being a straight forward statement, except for when we would receive.

Perhaps, like you mentioned, the passage doesn't mean what we think it means.
I agree, since it does not ring true in my experience.

It cannot mean that anything we ask for we will get. Even if what we ask for matches up with God's will. How many have prayed for someone to be saved, but they never were? Our experience tells us this.

In the Matthew passage I referenced, "asking, seeking and knocking" is directly related to Jesus' admonition on using discernment when dealing with different types of people. Other biblical passages dealing with asking from God have their own contexts. The only book of the Bible where we have stand alone pithy sayings is Proverbs. Jesus' discourses are well thought out and logical, context is key to understanding the true meaning.

[1hole]

One could say that God said "No" and allowed the baby to die. But the various passages do say "ask and you will receive". They ( my nephew and wife and the whole church congregation) prayed and prayed (asked) and sadly did not receive.

Then the passage "ask and you will receive" should have been "ask and you will receive...maybe". It is stating that you will receive. The only variable would be "when". So perhaps "ask and you will receive...at some point".

If God always answers prayer and His answer is no, how do we know He said no? When we do not receive our "ask" we assume the answer is no? Wouldn't it be contradictory to say no when the passages say that you will receive?

As said before;

1st, scripture was written by and to Hebrews with a knowledge of some 2,000 years of scripture and national history, not 21st Century Gentiles with little knowledge of scripture and a very limited knowledge of our own history.

2nd, all scripture must be understood in the light of other scripture, no passage should be taken as a child-like, stand-alone reading of anything without searching for further illumination of a question. That's a large reason for believers to actually study scripture, not just read it; kids can read the Bible and know what it says but no kid can grasp what's behind what's written.

There are many examples of answered prayer that illustrate granted prayer is generally predicated on the over all wisdom of the request and we are in no position to question God's wisdom; i.e., pray "Never the less, let not my will to be done but yours." That's not in contradiction to "ask and you will receive", it's an extension of the "Lord's Prayer" passage asking that His will be done on earth.

Let's not pray that we can manipulate God into doing something He knows is long term foolish.