One word. Three letters. Yet it’s one of the most powerful things we can do in this life when it comes to our relationship with Jesus Christ – Ask. He said to the disciples,
“…Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” {John 16:24}
So many times we go around unhappy and discontented, and some of us are not just unhappy, we’re plain miserable and depressed. Yet we continue to accept it as if there’s no other way around it or any hope for something different. I can imagine this state of mind if someone doesn’t know the Lord. They have an excuse. But for the rest of us who know Him, or at least know and believe He exists and He cares, why do we continue to walk around as if He’s dead and doesn’t care? Why do we go around complaining how horrible things are when we can do something about it?
I remember a time in my life when I accepted the status quo. I had gotten married, had a job I liked, and was relatively happy. My husband was very good to me. I saw my family every Sunday, and I was healthy. But I remember lying in bed one day wondering, “Now what? This is what I’ve wanted for all of my life and I have gotten it, is there anything more?” I realized that I had stopped dreaming. I had nothing else I was living for really, except to go to work, come home, make dinner and do it all over again the next day. Just like what everybody else was doing. But I knew there was something not right about it somehow. I felt empty about it. I felt that there’s got to be something more. So, I told the Lord. I said to the Lord, “I don’t have a dream anymore. Please, Father, give me something to dream for.” I didn’t think about having a family then, even though it seems that would be the most natural thing to wish for after few years of marriage. But I didn’t want a family. I thought I was too young for that. But not having a dream did not feel right, so I asked the Lord for it. It didn’t happen overnight, but eventually the Lord started to respond to me and to deal with my spirit. He let me know there is something more. He has a purpose for me. Then I started to dream again and to live again.
We don’t have to accept life as it is. There is something more. When it comes to believing in Jesus Christ, there is something way more for us believers in the Lord. If we are willing to seek Him for it and ask Him for it, He will show us a greater plan and a better future for us. All we need to do is ask.
I don’t know where you are in your situation in life. I know some people who are living a day-to-day existence just trying to survive and make ends meet. But it doesn’t have to be that way. We don’t have to settle for the best that we can give to ourselves. If we just spend some time talking to the Lord, and ask Him to reveal what He has for us, He will.
That was almost twenty years ago when I asked the Lord if there was something more for me, and you would think the older I get the less I would be interested with dreams. But I am happy to report that He has shown me even more that the best is yet to come. He definitely has great plans for me, He has a purpose for me. I finally know what it is and I tell you, what a relief it is to know what you’re called to do. It is such a game changer. I no longer live my life pining for something more but I live knowing and believing that the best is yet to come.
All it takes is one act – ask. Just ask Jesus. We might not know what is best for us, but He surely does. We might want something better for ourselves and we feel stuck somehow where we are, but if we would just ask, we will receive. Ask with hopefulness. Ask believing that He hears you and that He cares very much for you. Like I said, some requests might not be given to us overnight, but if we don’t even ask then how are ever going to receive anything at all down the road? Life goes by so fast. Before you know it, it will be another new year. Why stay where you are when He can bring a change in your life that is way better for you? What have you got to lose? Why not ask the Lord? Maybe it’s for a better marriage, a better job, a better health, or a better relationship with Jesus Christ? Whatever it is, ask.
“And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” {Matthew 21:22}
I remember a time in my life when I was so depressed out of my mind. I thought of death all the time. All I wanted to do was to die. I felt so horrible inside my soul. I knew the Lord all my life and couldn’t understand why I was suffering this way. So I cried out loud to the Lord one day in my room, lying down there in my bed and said to Him, “If You are real and You are really true, save me! Heal me! And deliver me!…Please help me!!” Thank God for that powerful act of asking. Thank God He is real and He does give to those that ask Him with all of their hearts. That was about 14 years ago and I am so glad to report again that the Lord has helped me and delivered me and healed me. He has filled my soul with so much of Him that I feel so much better about myself now, and have so much more peace and so much more joy in my life. Gradually, He worked on me. Slowly He revealed to me the changes that needed to take place in my heart. Many of those changes came about just by talking to Him and asking Him – constantly asking for His help to be happier and be a better person. He also showed me things like eating better and exercising. He also got me out of influences and environments that were not healthy for me. He showed me how to live better and to be better. I can still recall not wanting to get out of bed one day and hearing His voice in my spirit prompting me to get up and take a shower. When that was done He told me to get dressed and go out for a walk. Little things that might not even make a difference in some people’s lives but it did with me. He would practice me with this until I got better and better.
“And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.” {1 John 3:22}
There were so many things I learned from the Lord just in spending more time with Him. I love Him so much. He never changes, He never lies and He never fails. Whatever He tells us to do we can guarantee it to be faithful until the end. The important thing is always being open and honest with Him about ourselves. Always talking to Him and asking Him to show us what is best and good in His eyes concerning what we need to improve on. Sometimes the route to happiness is actually accepting we need help – we need to change the way we see and think about things in life. No one else can do this for us more powerfully than the Lord. He alone can go into the recesses of our soul and dig deep within our hearts, and reveal to us the innermost thoughts we have of ourselves. Until we bring ourselves to ask Him to bring us into the light of Him, we will not know anything else but darkness. So ask away because His desire is to give us joy. He has come to give us life and that we may have it more abundantly.
“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” {John 14:27}
“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” {John 10:10}
Prayer
Father, I love You so much. I thank You with all of my heart for Your great love for me, for giving Your life away at the cross so that I can be set free from all of my sins and the powers of the darkness of this world. I thank You for the wonderful revelation of You, for revealing to me Your truth and Your grace. With all of my heart I thank You so much for Your mercy upon my soul. I love You, Jesus. Thank You, Father.
Father, I pray that You will please continue to reveal Yourself to us and to grant us peace in our hearts today. Help us to know You more by coming to You and talking to You. Help us not to settle for what the world can give us but to aspire for higher things with You. Your desire is to give us joy and to give us life more abundantly; not just for heaven to come, but here even right now where we are on this earth, to give us joy and life abundantly. Please, Jesus, help us to ask You today for your guidance and for anything else we are desiring in our hearts. Help us too to love You more and more each day I pray, in Your most wonderful name, Jesus. Thank You, Father. Amen.
