Joyful Expectancy!

Matthew 7:7-8

Joyful Expectancy!

     

     “Ask and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened.” -Jesus

     These are the verses that God has been pressing home to my heart this week, particularly the words, “For everyone who asks receives.” Jesus is not playing games with us or trying to say anything other then what He means here. The verses that follow are about men knowing how to give good gifts and how much more willing our Father in heaven is to do so for those who ask. The only thing God requires is sincerity of heart when we make our requests which is why it is so much easier to simply believe that God won’t answer or has decided not to. It does not take a great man of faith to believe that God won’t answer.

     I believe that the most sincere form of asking from the heart is to ask with Joyful Expectancy. This causes our heart to actually have to come out of it’s despair in order to embrace it’s request of God seriously and be looking for His answer. Joyful expectancy and despair are not compatible with each other and cannot be done simultaneously. So why does it take so much faith in order to have joyful expectancy when He has so fully promised to answer our prayers? He even shares His own heart towards us further by instructing us how we are to behave, telling us, “Give to those who ask of us and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.” Matt. 5:42 Also in verse 44 & 45 He says, “But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” Faith is hard because we get tested on it. You see, God desires to bless us abundantly with riches in heaven and one of the ways He bestows it upon us is by the tests He allows and when He sees that we are truly holding on to one of His promises it gives Him a real opportunity to make the most of it so that He might bless us more abundantly. This is why when we truly exhibit the character of faith we come into such conflict and trials. God will answer but His timing is truly for our greatest blessing!

     So let us look deeply into His character and know more fully in our hearts that “He who asks of Him shall receive,” just as He has promised us and asked for us to do for others. He lives by His own commandments and truly loves each of us as only a Father can. We are His sons and daughters. His own flesh and blood because He has adopted us as His own.

     Father, we love you and desire closer fellowship with You today!