Prayer Requires Asking

Beggars ask for bread. God requires his people to ask Him for help. Asking is an exciting aspect of prayer! We glorify God through dependence in prayer. Notice even in Luke 11:9, Jesus reissues the command to ask. This is not wishing, this is asking God for a specific purpose, from a specific motivation. Yes, we can have wrong motives and understanding that lead to wrong requests. Properly understanding the privilege of prayer leads us to pray well. Imagine being invited to speak to a world leader, and all you can say is, "Bla bla bla." What a wasted opportunity! But we speak to God Almighty in prayer, why do we do a similar thing? Speak to Him in line with what is true. Prayer should flow out of our understanding of the Gospel. ask yourself what God wants. Ask for that. God wants us, for a start, to ask for what He wants for our physical lives. But we can't trust our own evaluation of our needs. Jesus shows us that for a start, all that we need; Daily necessities--bread. Daily necessities. Paul was happy with food and clothing. In Jesus' day there were three categories of people. The farmers, who would receive their necessities on an annual basis. The poor, who would receive their necessities on a weekly basis. The traveling poor, the poorest of the poor, who would beg for bread on a daily basis. This is how Christians are to ask from God. The world is frantic to get more today that it needs for years. Do you question God's goodness if you only have enough provision for today? If I don't get from God more than what I need, or as much as I think I need? This is where worry comes from. So larger resources are not automatically evidence of God's blessing.