Asking the Lord for all the things we wish is a privilege by the will of God. Have you been asking Him or have you asked Him for anything? The Father is well pleased when we ask the Lord; for it demonstrates to Him our love, the trust we have in Him and the desire to depend on Him alone. Asking the Lord is one of the best ways to get to know Him in an intimate way. He is much nearer to us at that time. Many times we do not ask Him assuming the things we ask are not in His interest or are trivial in nature. However, asking Him at all times will befit us more than we assume; we also receive His best. A master is always concerned if his servant is depending on him and seeking his favor than all the works he does. Similarly, the Lord also wishes of us. When we ask Him, we excite Him of His all-powerful, all-knowing qualities. He is pleased to know we regard Him as the King. Believers of Jesus do not fail to excite Him. So, He said, “In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf” (John 16:26).
When Jesus said ‘in that day,’ He was referring to the time He would speak to His people plainly. While on earth people including the disciples asked Him many things and He replied them in figurative language. He even spoke to them in figurative speech. Some of those things He later explained to the disciples and the rest they understood after He went to the Father. Once He left the Holy Spirit was sent as the Helper so that His people would not lack in any understanding; the Spirit takes from Jesus. They would understand all things about the Father plainly. At that point, when they choose to ask Him, He will give to them. So, the key to receiving all the things we ask Him is in gaining the knowledge of the Father from Him. It teaches of the things we can and should ask. The greater the understanding of the Father the greater will be the knowledge to ask the Lord. In addition, it is for managing well the things we obtained. The Lord prepares us fully so that when we ask, we receive and when we receive, we glorify God.
To ask in Jesus name is to ask Jesus the Lord, and He gives whatever we ask Him. For this reason, He said He would not ask the Father on our behalf. When He ascended into heaven, He sat at the right hand of God. God gave Him all authority. And asking Jesus will avail us answers. To ask Him without proper understanding of the Father, i.e. of His nature and His will to us is imprudence; He will not give us the things we ask. Jesus is at God’s right hand and is with all readiness to speak to us plainly of the Father. So, our priority is to know the Father that our asking does not result in disappointment. One of the best things we can do by knowing the Father is pleasing the Lord. It is not seeking evil things. At this task some failed. So, we are reminded with the following, “Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved” (1 Cor. 10:6). The Lord does not want us to fail.
Israel failed, because they had the opportunity to please God, but did not take hold of it. Many times the temptations of flesh drive us to seek various things. They are not for our well being and we are unaware of it. Satan too brings to mind the things that are not the Lord’s wish for us. At these times we ought to use the knowledge of the Father and move forward to receive the things we ask. In case you cannot discern your thoughts, ask the Lord and He will further fill you with the knowledge of the Father from the Word. It will only be a wonderful experience. It must be a deliberate choice not to crave evil things. It means we are using wise discernment. And, the knowledge the Lord gave leads us to the things we can and must ask. This is His guidance. So, it is written, “For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end” (Heb. 3:14). The beginning of our assurance comes from the knowledge of the Father. It is that the Father has made us His children through Christ and will not forsake us or ignore us. If we hold fast to it, we are companions of Christ, a people that walk with Him and listen to Him. This is an advantage to receive all that we ask Him.
There is a reason the Lord knows we ask Him; a reason He gives us the knowledge of the Father and there is a reason He gives all that we ask Him. It is to make us into a people that practice the following. “And he said with a loud voice, ‘Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters’” (Rev. 14:7). We needed to be a people that fear God at all times. We needed to give Him glory in our bodies as well as with all the things He has given us, whether they are physical or spiritual. Because the time of judgment is near, He gives our wishes. Our worship of God must be from will and heart rather than by rote and ritual, and it resonates Him to the world. The more active He is in fulfilling our requests, the more we allow Him to work for His purpose. For the works He does to give us our wishes produce the understanding of the Father. So, it is against His will to deny our requests when they are according to the knowledge of the Father. Sometimes we do not know what to ask for; by seeking knowledge from Him we understand. In fact, He gives us such knowledge that we ask Him and stay on course to glorify Him. No man can fear, glorify and worship God unless the Lord grants their requests. And, the Lord is good. Hence, Paul went on to boldly say, “If anyone does not love the Lord, he is to be accursed. Maranatha” (1 Cor. 16:22).
He who receives from the Lord all the things he asks should love the Lord. So, it should not be that we turn away from loving the Lord after having our requests granted by Him. The outcome would be dissociating from Him and even losing the things we were blessed with. The Corinthian Christians were blessed by the Lord both physically and spiritually. Yet, they did not continue in the fear of God to glorify Him and worship Him truthfully. It appears as though Paul was making his statement out of nowhere, but it is not so. It is a stern statement not to take the grace of the Lord lightly. How can one who received from Him end up not loving Him? It was strange for Paul and is also to those who love the Lord. So, when he said Maranatha, he would rather see the Lord coming than to witness their unloving attitude toward Him and are accursed. Shallow love for the Lord was unbearable to him. For he knew one of the reasons the Lord grants all things including the things we ask is that we love Him incorruptibly. To love Him is to obey Him in all matters, manage well the things He gave us and not bring Him shame. Then we are holding on to the knowledge of the Father.
Contrary to the attitude of the Corinthians means we have all our requests, i.e. the present and the ones we ask in future, granted in His time. For the Lord whom we approached is the most powerful. “But from now on THE SON OF MAN WILL BE SEATED AT THE RIGHT HAND of the power OF GOD” (Luke 22:69). It is a delight to know that there is none more powerful and accomplishing than our Lord. When the knowledge of the Father is working in us, the Lord as the Son of God will not work against its fruit. What the knowledge does in us is this: it compels us to make appropriate requests at the right time that God is not put to shame. To this day we have not lacked anything and it will be so if we hold fast the knowledge of the Father. But even more than this, God will lead us to ask for greater things and will deliver them to us. For He always held a positive opinion regarding us. “‘I have loved you’, says the LORD” (Mal. 1:2).