The lottery jackpot sometimes goes so high that it boggles the mind. The latest one to be mind boggling is a whopping $940 million dollars. There are lots of views about whether a Christian can or should play the lottery. This post is not about the ethics of playing the lottery, so I won’t weigh in there. One thing for sure, if you are interested in winning the lottery, you have to play. If you don’t play, you can’t win.
The same kind of thinking comes out in Jesus’ teaching on faith and prayer in Matthew 7. He says, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew7:7-8NIV
God knows what we need. God knows what we want. He could give us what we want and need without us asking. However, he chooses to have us step out in faith and ask, seek, and knock for those things.
If he gave us everything we needed or wanted without us asking, we may chalk it up as coincidence. But when we step out in faith and ask, when God answers, we know it was Him. Then we give him the glory and we grow in our faith and love for Him because of it.
If you want something or need something. Step out in faith, asking, seeking, and knocking. “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 good gifts to those who ask him!” Matthew7:11NIV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for the gift of prayer! Help me to not assume you will answer according to the desires of my heart. Help me to ask, seek, and knock to see your glory in answering. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Thinking About and Being a Child of God 