God is not a man that he should lie. And even though I agree with that statement completely, I am not the author of it. Ah, here is the author: Numbers 23:19, God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? How many have received what they believed to be a word from God, and they are still waiting for it to come to pass? We do live in the earth where time is not on the same measure for us as it is for God: 2 Peter 3:8, But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. What does that truly mean for us natural beings? Whatever you may think that it means, whether completely right or completely wrong, it doesn’t change the fact that we humans are always on the clock. Now regardless of which clock, that we should tick tock to, we need to do all that we can in God to meet the time obligation when due. The one thing that we do know from scripture, old or new testament, is that God generally runs on his own time, regardless. It can be the children of Israel being in captivity (400 years), but God is going to give the Amorites the time they need to possibly get it right: Genesis 15:16, But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. It could be a dear friend near death, with the family wearing out the physical messenger’s feet to alert the Pastor to come quickly; however, God is going to handle things in an untimely way as far as we in the natural may see: John 11:5-6, Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. 6 When he had heard therefore that he (Lazarus) was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was. Yeah, the Lord loves all of us dearly, but when it comes to the bigger Will of the Father, your trust in God will stand the test of time.
So what do you do, after the Ask? Well, what happened to the three siblings after Jesus was ask to come quickly, but delayed coming? We know from scripture that one of the siblings (Lazarus) did eventually die, and the two sister siblings were in a deep grief, disappoint, and underlying questioning according to BJU Seminary. The one thing that we know for sure with out documentation is the existence of underlying questioning. We know that to be true because we hear it going on all the time in our present lives when there is discussion about what’s God going to do, or not do. Anyway, as Martha found out, Jesus always comes through. It will not always be according to the plan as we think it should be, thank God; but it will always be according to the plan that is best as God knows it to be. So let’s see what should be done according to scripture, after the Ask: Matthew 7:7-8, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Now we know that it is not set up for us to just Ask only to have what we need, but to do some additional things that will line us up to have what we need, in the time that we need it. Now let’s do more than ask!
Okay, Matthew 7:7 says, after the Ask, and it shall be given you. Then we see in the same verse, a different idea, but still part of “the Ask.” The different idea says “seek, and ye shall find.” Then there is one more idea that is different from “the Ask,” and also different from “the seek,” and that idea is “the knock,” and it shall be opened unto you. Wow, here we can see why we might run into constantly coming up short on what we Ask for if all we do is the ‘Ask.” There seems to be, according to the scripture here, a lot more involved in the process in order to have what we ask for. So let’s go ahead and change our outcome by realizing that there is more to do after “the Ask.” I really like how the verse that follows just makes it all clear and straightforward: Matthew 7:8, For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. There we go, the whole formula simply put out right before us: asketh to receiveth; seeketh to findeth; and knocketh to opened. Okay, I feel better already, now that all of that has been made clear to me. And just in case, everyone reading this hasn’t been following the after “the Ask” process for over thirty years as I have been doing, let’s go ahead and break it down for our under ten year members of the body. The people from the business world once told me years ago, that it takes 10 years of experience doing something to even began to be called an expert. I am here to tell you, that does not apply to the spiritual world. It was just two days ago that Father gave me the wisdom on a different faith operation that I had been assigned to, it seems like forever. I was only given the wisdom to understand the operation, but I was not given any claim to be called an expert. In the family business as I call it, God is the only expert.
There is one thing that you will hear from me over and over, and that is you must increase your growth in the fulness of God. If we do not increase it, we will not complete the process of after “the Ask.” As you have read in the scripture within this post, “the Ask” is just the alert to get the process started to have what you ask or hope for. There are many that do “the Ask,” but there are not many that complete the process. We all will receive something from what we ask of God, but we usually do not receive what is fully needed to put “the Ask” to bed once and for all: no, it comes back around. Here is a good example of not finishing the process, but still getting what we think is the answer from God; but it is only a answer in which we stopped on along the way. 2 Kings 13:18-19, And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and stayed. 19 And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it: whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice. Here we see that an answer was received as with us also many times, but Syria will be back around when you don’t finish the process. Let’s finish the process!
How does “the Ask” process start? Well, something alerts us to get it started. It is usually something that just comes up as we are living our lives day to day. It will usually be an unexpected or unplanned need, want, desire, calling, or whatever that just shows up. This would be where “the Ask” should make its entry into the process that actually started with the arrival of the unexpected or unplanned thing. Now, if you already have resources to handle whatever it is that just shows up, then there is no need for “the Ask,” if you already have it covered. My first step, if I don’t have what just showed up covered, is “the Ask,” and my Ask will be to God. So I ask God for his will concerning what just showed up. I will receive a written word of God that falls into my spirit, or I may receive a Rhema word from God concerning his will. Once I receive the will of God by the word of God, the thing that I did, “the Ask,” is ready to be given as stated in Matthew 7:7, Ask, and it shall be given you. Here is where the next part of the process, in the same scripture, comes into play. Many will not complete this step, and settle for what they get from “the Ask,” as their complete answer from God while they wait to see it not happen. The next part in the scripture says, Seek, and ye shall find. So what is it that you seek, that ye shall find? Once you get the word from God, written or rhema, the word is now on alert to start bringing faith substance for you to seek and find by your hearing. Romans 10:17, So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Now that you have the word of God for what just showed up in your life, the word of God will be giving unto you what you ask for. You will be seeking the faith substance given you in order to find the answer for what just showed up. This is why you will seek, and you will find the substance that you need to bring to pass what just showed up.
The inventories from which God will pull the substances that you need to supply the unexpected thing that just showed up is beyond your mental grasp. 1 Corinthians 2:9, But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. Once you alert the Word that you have hope to bring to pass what just showed up: need, want, calling, desire, or whatever; there will be substances coming your way to bring it to pass. Hebrews 11:1, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Here is where the last part in the scripture that says, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. So after you have seeked, and found the substance of the things hoped for, it becomes time for your faith to move on the substance. Do not just stand afar, and ponder on what to do. No, you have processed to this point, now let’s don’t leave stuff on the table because you stopped short to settle for less. Faith means to go and knock on the door of the substances in which you found from your seeking. Now once you knock on the substance, it shall be opened. There is no choice left at this point. The process is done! Keep working with God to build your fruit of the spirit so that you can over ride your flesh when it doesn’t want to seek or knock after “The Ask.” The Lord will generally have us involved with situations that will strengthen us in areas where our fruit of the spirit needs to be strengthen. The bible also tells us to ask for the best gifts: 1 Corinthians 12:31, But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way. I am very strong in power faith, I can move in faith to seek, and knock all day long. Power faith will just over ride any fight that the natural man may try to put up to keep you from being where you need to be. And where you need to be is after “The Ask.” Praise God!
Adopted son
Leave a Reply