Ask And Receive Series

Our text today is in Zechariah 10:1-4.

I. God’s INVITATION is to Ask and Receive

We begin with the first word in that chapter: “Ask.”i God’s method of blessing His people begins there. He begins with an invitation to ask and receive. And that begins with our acknowledgement that every good gift comes from Him (James 1:17).

Our last message concluded with a scene full of delightful joy and prosperity. Zechariah 9:16-17 depict the blessed condition of Israel during the Millennium. But it is always God’s desire to bless His people with His joy and peace. “The Lord their God will save them in that day [that is a reference to the Millennium] As the flock of His people. For they shall be like the jewels of a crown, Lifted like a banner over His land — 17 For how great is its goodness And how great its beauty! [There is debate as to whether that refers to God’s goodness and beauty or the beauty He bestows on His people. Either interpretation fits the context.]. Grain shall make the young men thrive, And new wine the young women.”

Now Zechariah 10:1 informs us as to how God’s people live in that state of blessing. The instruction begins with this invitation: “Ask.” James 4:2 instructs believers: “. . . you do not have because you do not ask.” God’s way of blessing His people in every generation is through the principle of Ask and Receive. The mystery is how easily we forget this principle; how prone we are to try to work things out on our own while God stands with open arms ready to grant our requests.

This principle of asking and receiving is based on the core design of humanity. God created us for interaction with Him. He did not design us to be little wind-up robots with a self-contained battery, functioning independent of Him. Prior to the Fall Adam and Eve communed with God in the Garden. They lived in a state of blessed dependence upon Him. They lived out of relationship with Him. The temptation the Serpent offered Eve was to break out of that dependence and pursue knowledge that would enable her to live off her own wisdom and sufficiency. It was the fundamental issue behind the Fall. Will you live independent of God, or will you live in trustful, obedient dependence on Him?

So, the question we are faced with today is this: To what degree are you acknowledging your dependence on the Lord? Conversely, to what degree are you going about your daily affairs leaning on your own understanding and depending on your own resources to make life work?ii What is the gage that will tell us the answer to that question? Very simply, the issue of asking. Our prayer life is a revelation of our commitment to this principle. We pray because we know God is our source. We pray because we know that without Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5). We pray because we choose to live in continual dependence on Him. To the degree that we don’t really believe those things, to that degree, we neglect prayer and operate out of the Tree of the

Knowledge of Good and Evil. To that degree we decide, out of our own understanding, what to do next.

The kingdom principle is Ask and Receive.

“You do not have [James 4:2 says] because you do not ask.” Do you need a problem solved? “Is anyone among you in trouble?” What should that person do? The answer from James 5:12 is this: “Let them pray.”iii “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.”iv The “prayer of faith” is the prayer that from the heart is directed toward the Lord. It is prayer that trust in the finished work of Christ in our behalf.

Whether it is people in Zechariah’s generation or people living in the Millennium or people like you and me, the kingdom always and forevermore operates on this principle: Ask and Receive. Jesus declared it in Luke 11:9-13:

“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 11 If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”