When You Ask From God Series

We are continuing our study in the Book of 1 Samuel.

We are now in chapter 8 - we are studying one chapter at a time.

Every chapter has a spiritual application for all of us if we only know how to look for them.

Today, we are going to talk about asking God in prayer.

Do you know that one of the privileges of being a Christian is that we have the assurance of answered prayer?

God wants to answer our prayers because He loved us.

We are His children and He is our loving Father.

He wants to give the best to each one of us.

In fact, the Bible says:

Matthew 7:7 - "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."

This is what I call the triple promise for a triple request.

John 15:7 - If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you."

The main requirement for an answered prayer is to remain or abide in His Word.

Are you remaining in Him?

John 16:24 - Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete."

We have a God who love to answer our prayers.

He wants our joy to be complete as we receive His abundant blessings each day.

And so, we are encouraged to keep on asking God through prayer.

Story of a person who went to heaven.

He saw in one room a lot of wonderful gifts that were not yet delivered.

When he asked the angel why those gifts were not yet given out, the answer was: "Because they have not yet asked."

He wants the best for all of us.

However, we have to be careful of what we ask for because we have the tendency to be selfish.

We have the tendency to abuse our privileges in prayer.

We have the tendency to insist on our own.

We have the tendency to ask for something on what we don't really need.

We have the tendency to be impatient when we ask God for something.

We can't wait for God's proper timing.

Ecclesiastes 5:2(NIV) "Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few."

This verse tells us that we have the tendency to be quick in uttering things out of the impulse of the heart without even thinking about it carefully.

The verse says - Don't.

Because God is heaven and we are on earth.

There is a vast difference between the two.

God sees everything from His heavenly perspective, but or earthly outlook is very much limited.

And so, let your words be few.

When we pray, we only have to be brief, specific and direct to the point.

Story:

When the desk top computer was first released, I was in Bacolod and was the pastor of the church.

At that time, everyone was talking about the capability of a computer for the ministry.

I thought it would be good to have one as well.

And so, we prayed and raised funds and pull some shoulders to buy us one.

At that tine, the introductory price of a top of the line computer was - around $50,000 a piece.

But there was one pastor friend who told me - don't buy yet.

Because they keep on changing for new models every six months.

What you have now will be obsolete after one year.

I ignored the advice.

We bought our first computer at a high price and true enough, it was no longer useful after one or two years.

We were not able to think about it carefully.

We were so hasty in making a decision.

So far, we learned last week about the greatest spiritual revival that took place in Israel when all the people turned back to God.

They have repented from their sins, they took away their idols or graven images, they also committed themselves wholeheartedly to God and decided to serve the Lord.

It was a great turning point for Israel as a nation under God.

But while Samuel was preparing the burnt offering before the Lord, they were attacked by their fiercest enemy - the Philistines.

Instantly, fear gripped them.

It was then that they cried to God for help and because of their spiritual restoration, God heard their prayers.

God fought their battles.

God subdued the Philistines by a loud thunder.

Several territories that were previously occupied by the Philistines were returned to them and for many years, they lived in peace under the leadership of Samuel as their prophet and God as their King.