Could you be overlooking some of the most basic principles regarding answered prayer?
A major blunder. That\u2019s exactly what Henry had just made.
\u201cI simply don\u2019t understand why God didn\u2019t give me the wisdom to make the right decision,\u201d Henry sighed, shaking his head.
Actually, Henry had made a double mistake. Double, because if we were to inquire of him, \u201cDid you specifically ask God for the wisdom you needed?\u201d Henry\u2019s reply would be something like: \u201cEr, well, no \u2014 not specifically. But,\u201d he would hastily add, \u201cGod knew I needed it. He knows all things.\u201d
True, God knows all things. He is fully aware of our needs. As Jesus stated, \u201cYour Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him\u201d.
Matthew 6:8<\/span>
for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.<\/span>
But does that, therefore, render prayer unnecessary?
Not at all! The Bible clearly points out that one of the reasons we sometimes do not receive the blessings we could enjoy is simply that we do not ask God for them.
James 4:2<\/span>
Yet you don\u2019t have what you want because you don\u2019t ask God for it.
<\/span>
<\/span>Matthew 7:7<\/span>
<\/span><\/sup>\u201cKeep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for.
<\/span><\/span>To illustrate, Jesus gave the example of a child asking his father for some food.
Matthew 7:11<\/span>
So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.<\/span>
How? With no conditions? Always automatically? As a matter only of due course? Just because He knows we need them? Whether or not we ask? No! Read it: \u201cto those who ask Him!\u201d
James 1:5
<\/span>If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.<\/span>
Henry should have read this more closely. This verse doesn\u2019t say that if you need wisdom, God will automatically supply it because you are a Christian and He knows you need it.
God is filled with mercy and compassion. He knows what we need. He stands ready to give liberally. But He wants us to ask anyway.
Why? The fact that God tells us to is certainly good enough reason all by itself. But let\u2019s see if we can understand why God tells us to.<\/p>\n{“title”:””,”nav_menu”:”7″}\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1295,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-868","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ccog.uk\/wps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ccog.uk\/wps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ccog.uk\/wps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ccog.uk\/wps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ccog.uk\/wps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=868"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ccog.uk\/wps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1315,"href":"https:\/\/ccog.uk\/wps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/868\/revisions\/1315"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ccog.uk\/wps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ccog.uk\/wps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}