Ask and Receive, that Your Joy May Be Full

"Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full." (1)

God delights to give. He is full of compassion, and He longs to grant the requests of those who come to Him in faith. He gives to us that we may serve others and thus be like Him. Jesus declared, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." Jesus continued, "What man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him." (2)

In order to strengthen our confidence in God, Christ teaches us to address Him as our "Father who is in heaven." God regards us as His children. He has redeemed us out of a careless world and has chosen us to become members of His royal family, sons and daughters of the Highest Authority in the Universe. He invites us to trust Him with a trust deeper and stronger than that of a child in his earthly parent. Parents love their children, but the love of God is larger, broader, deeper, than human love can possibly be. If earthly parents know how to give good gifts to their children, how much more shall our Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him?

Our prayers are not to be a selfish asking, merely for our own benefit. We are to ask that we may give. The principle of Christ's life must become the principle of our lives. Our mission to the world is not to serve or please ourselves. We are to glorify God by cooperating with Him to save sin-sick souls. We are to ask blessings from God that we may share and communicate His blessings to others. The capacity for receiving is magnified by imparting what He has shared with us..

Those who bring their petitions to God, claiming His promise while they do not comply with the conditions, insult Jehovah. They use the name of Jesus as their authority for the fulfillment of His promises, but they do not do the things that would show their faith in Him and love for Him. The promise is "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you." (3) John declares, "Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, 'I know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him." (4)

1. John 16:23.
2. Matthew 7:7, 8.
3. John 15:7.
4. 1 John 2:3-5.