Inspirations

“ Ask  and it will be given to you;  seek  and you will find;  knock  and the door will be opened to you.   Matthew 7:7      The second command after asking is to seek, what we hope to find.  It sounds funny, but we usually only search for what we hope to locate.   In my life, I have looked for many things.  I have looked for combs, socks, or shoes.  For most of these kinds of things, I half-heartedly look for them.  I look but not well because, honestly, they aren't that important.  Other things keys, a phone, or a debit card, I will diligently hunt for it until I am sure they either cannot be found or I have them in my possession again.   If I lose a sock I may look for a short time, but I will not spend hours trying to find it.   It's just not that important.  If, on the other hand, I can't locate my wallet, I assure you, I will leave no stone unturned in my search.  I w...

  “ Ask  and it will be given to you;  seek  and you will find;  knock  and the door will be opened to you.   Matthew 7:7           This is a familiar verse, one that I've heard many times.   It seems pretty straightforward.  We are given three commands.  The first command is to ask. It does not say "tell", or "demand" but ask.  I (personal opinion here) doubt we can or should use a demanding tone with the God of the universe. We should never presume to tell God what to do.  We can, however, ask.  I believe (again personal opinion) that God likes us to ask even though he knows what we want.  As a parent, I loved having my children ask for things they wanted.  It made me happy to know that they felt secure enough to be vulnerable and ask for what they wanted.   The opposite is also true.  There were times when my children were younger that they did not ask for...

Have you ever had someone ask you for something?  What was your reaction?  Sometimes, I hate to admit it, but I get slightly annoyed.  About a week ago, I had someone ask to help provide a dinner.  My first thought?  Really?  So I did the Christian thing.  I said I’ll have to “pray” about it. I did, and God said, “Help her”!   As I was fixing the meal, my attitude was still not very good.  That was when God started meddling.  He said, “Sharon, think of my life”.  I did and then he asked, “When did I ever do anything for someone that they did not ask me to do”.  OUCH!  I have to admit it, but as I thought about that, I began to realize that I was the one with the problem, not her.  Jesus, aside from his work on the cross, did not do any act of healing or other miracle without someone asking.  In fact, Jesus tells us to ask.  Strike that!  He commands us to ask, and he wants us to ask.  If he expec...