Jesus says, “You have not because you ask not.” Are you remembering to ASK? And when you ask, He says to “pray without ceasing,” (I Thess. 5:17) and to “knock and keep on knocking” (Matt. 7:7). Don’t give up in prayer. Consider the story of the Canaanite woman in Matthew 15:21-28.
She comes to Jesus begging for mercy for her daughter, and He ignores her at first because she is not an Israelite. Finally the disciples tell Jesus to send her away. So He says to her, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.”
But she came and begged Him on her knees: “Lord, please help me!”
He answered, “It isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
“Yes, Lord,” she said, “yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”
(You see that? She argued with JESUS! The same way Moses argued and Job argued and Abraham argued and Ezekiel argued and David argued.)
So what happened? How did Jesus respond?
“Then Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, you have great faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.’ And from that moment her daughter was cured” Matthew 15:28.
She pressed Jesus. She followed. She begged. She made a scene. She wore out her welcome. She nearly got sent away. She argued. She would not take ‘no’ for an answer. And Jesus had mercy on her and He let Himself be persuaded.
What are you praying for? Pray more. Pray harder. Maybe He is testing you. Maybe He wants to see whether you are serious. Argue. Quote scripture to God. Pray WITHOUT CEASING. Knock and keep on knocking.
That’s when God will give you what you seek.
ΑΩ
Household Words: 