Ask, and you shall receive

Today's message was more about getting what you need vs what you want when it comes your prayers.  When tragedy strikes we have so many questions that seem to not have answers so we pray and we pray hoping for the results we have planned out in our heads.  Most of the time, God's plans are much different than ours but it is important that we still see God's hands at work.  At Griffin's birthday party, I got the opportunity to see so many blessings and when we take the time to see the world through a Godly perspective, it radically changes us, it radically changes how we view others.  I am encouraging you to not necessarily change your life, start with changing your perspective.

11 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

² He said to them, “When you pray, say:

“‘Father,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
³ Give us each day our daily bread.
⁴ Forgive us our sins,
    for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
And lead us not into temptation.’”

⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; ⁶ a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ ⁷ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ ⁸ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.

⁹ “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

¹¹ “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? ¹² Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? ¹³ If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Yesterday we celebrated Griffin’s birthday and as he opened presents and communicated with several different people, I could not help but to see just how blessed I was.  I could not help but to be thankful for the family and friends that God has placed around me.  But at the same time, I started to feel guilty for a couple of different reasons.  First, I felt that I did not deserve such blessings.  I was struggling to know why God would bless me so freely when I constantly fall short.  But as I prepared for this sermon I started to realize just how amazing the God that we worship is.  God gives to us so freely but He does so with no stipulations.  When we give others something it usually means that they will owe us something in return but that is just not how God works.  The prayer found in this morning’s scripture starts off very simply, “Father” but the greek word that is used insinuates that Father is someone who freely gives and even delights in giving his children what they need.  The second reason that I felt guilty is because I could not help but to wonder why God blesses me while others struggle so deeply.  For this I do not really have an answer.  I do not deserve these blessings any more than anyone else.  Why do others live lives that seem to be filled with struggle and heartache while I receive blessings beyond my wildest dreams?  The only answer I can come up with is that God has called me to pass along His message of hope and love.  God blesses me so that I can tell others of the many great things that we are capable of when we enter into a relationship with God.  

There were two priceless moments yesterday that almost had me in tears that I was laughing so hard as Griffin opened his presents.  First, he was opening some of the cards after opening the presents and one of them had a blue gift card in it.  He is standing there holding that gift card as Cheyanne and I are reading the card and someone asks him what the card says.  Very excitedly, he says “Walmart!”  Griffin loves Walmart and especially enjoys going to visit the “fishies” in the back of the store.  The combination of the Walmart logo and his love for going there has meant that he has learned to identify the store very easily.  This got me thinking about our ability to share our faith in ways that people identify us as Christians.  Are we living in such a way that people know and understand our relationship with God?  Could someone ask a stranger what we believe and that person be able to tell them that we are willing to help each other out, that we take care of those who are in need, that we are forgiven and that we are so incredibly thankful for that grace?  Do you think someone could piece this together from the life you live?  That is a question we must ask ourselves each and every day.  It is a question that we must consider as we approach every moment and decision this life brings.  How do others identify us?  Have we created a logo that is identifiable to those who hardly know us just as Griffin was able to identify Walmart?  The other moment from yesterday had to do with a ten dollar bill that Griffin received in another card.  Uncle Dan is always asking Griffin when is he going to come help us do square bales and chase cows.  Cheyanne has taught him to say “$10 bucks” which is how much he wants paid to do those things on the farm.  So when he was holding his $10 bucks yesterday someone asked him where he was going to spend his $10 bucks he said “Uncle Dan’s.”  Griffin identified that phrase with going to Uncle Dan’s.  Griffin had confused the use of the phrase but he was so willing to give away his $10 bucks just so he could go to Uncle Dan’s.  Even if he doesn’t know or understand it yet, Griffin has a feeling of blessing when he gets to go to Uncle Dan’s and he does not really care what he has to give up in order to experience that.  Our faith mirrors this way of thinking sometimes.  We do not always know or understand our faith and daily workings with God but once we have experienced the many blessings our faith provides, we are more willing to give up other things in order to experience that closeness with God.  One of the commentaries I read had this to say, “We must note particularly the order of the Lord’s Prayer.  Before anything is asked for ourselves, God and his glory, and the reverence due to Him, come first.  Only when we give God his place will other things take their proper place.”  There is an order to things and in Griffin’s mind he had to give that ten bucks away in order to go to Uncle Dan’s.  We must place God first in our lives in order to experience the greatness and mercy of his love.  When we view the world through a Godly lens, then and only then are we better able to understand and see how truly blessed we are.

I have to be honest with all of you... The first several times I read the parable in this morning’s scripture I did not understand it.  I had no clue what it was trying to teach us.  Reading through several commentaries, and probably with some divine help, I think I can explain it to you.  Turns out it is a great parable about prayer and how God answers them.  There is a lot of background information we must understand before it can make much sense to us but the parable did not need much explanation when it was written but times are quite different now.  First of all, the people during this time only made enough food to get them through each day because they had no way to keep the food fresh.  So at the end of the night, food was either given away or thrown out.  That is why the friend of the traveller had no food to offer him upon his arrival and hospitality was a very big deal during these times.  Second, the housing situation during these times was much different than it is now.  The homes in the villages were one room with a small divider between the cooking area and the rest of the house.  The entire family slept in one part of the house.  It was also common practice to have the livestock in the house to deter thieves.  So when neighbor number one  went to neighbor number two’s house to see if he had any food, neighbor number two did not want to get up because it would disturb the entire house.  Neighbor number one was persistent and kept knocking until neighbor number two got up and fulfilled his request.  Once I understood all of this I still was confused because I thought this parable was telling us to keep praying to God until we get to the point of annoyance and then God will fulfill our prayer request and I knew that was most likely not correct.  But the parable is one of contrast, to necessarily one of similarities.  The parable shows us that even neighbor number two, who was annoyed and grumpy, would give neighbor number one what he needed, how much more would God give neighbor number one?  In other words, if a grumpy and annoyed neighbor can be brought to action by the shameless persistence of another neighbor, how much more will God who is a loving Father supply the needs of His children?  After all, we are filled with sin and do not give as God gives yet we understand the needs of our fellow man.  This helps us to understand that God, who is all knowing and all powerful, can help us fulfill our needs.  Even if my explanation did not help you to understand this parable more than you did before, know that we do not have yank the blessings of this life from God, they are freely given with nothing expected in return.  This also explains our unanswered prayers as well.  God knows and understands our needs much better than we do.  Therefore, some prayers will go unanswered.  In fact, there is no such thing as an unanswered prayer.  The prayers that we deem that God has not answered were just not answered in the manner we hoped they would be.  But even in the refusal of our prayers we are blessed because the answer given is out of the love and wisdom that God has for His people.  Therefore, the gospel of Luke tells us to ask, and it will be given.  It may not be given in the way we would like it to be but it is given nonetheless.  Knock and a door will be opened to you.  It may not be the door you intended but the door will be opened to you.  

Griffin received many gifts yesterday given to him by people who care deeply about him but this just shows how much more God can give to each of us when we ask.  If you do not already have a relationship with God, for whatever reasons you may have, know that a loving, caring and wise God wants you to experience His grace.  God gives us what we need, even if we don’t think we need it and sometimes we ask for something completely different.  The perfect example of this is the amazing blessing of my wife.  There was a period in my life in which I wanted to be with someone who did not much about my religion background at Central so they would not push me towards it because I wanted to stay away from it.  But God, in all His wisdom had much different plans.  I envision Him almost laughing in heaven because I thought I had found that person but God knew she would support His plan even if I didn’t want to.  In closing, we do not always get what we pray for, but we do get what we need.  Those two are not always as close as we would like them to be but God has a plan for you.  Amen.  

God Bless,

Clinton

Fairview Christian Church