It's all in the asking

When I was in high school, my family had a plan to get a pool.  We (my mom, sister and I) devised a plan to talk to my dad about getting a pool put into our back yard.  Now you have to understand that we lived on top of a hill on 1.29 acres in Fayetteville, GA (out in the middle of no where).  The plan that we had was to take "Daddy's Girl" and have her ask for the pool.  My dad couldn't say no to her.  All she had to do was bat her eyes and ask with her sweet little voice, and Dad was puddy in her hands.  The plan didn't go as expected.  He was on it from the beginning.  After she asked he called us into the living room.  Needless to say, we never did get our pool.  But the point has stuck with me.

When it comes to our relationship with God, it is much like that.  It is all in the asking.  We don't have because we don't ask.  This isn't some weak version of the prosperity gospel, pray for a Porsche and get one kind of thing.  Get a load of these scriptures:

"And when you pray..." (NIV) or "And when you come before God..." (MSG) Matthew 6.5

Jesus expects us to pray.  Prayers is what connects us to God the Father, our Father.  It is what aligns us to Him.  It is like carrying-on a conversation with God where we talk and He listens, and then He talks and we listen.  So when you pray...how do you pray with effectiveness?

Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from?  Do you think they just happen?  Think again.  They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves.  You lust for what you don't have and are willing to kill to get it.  You want what isn't yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it.  You wouldn't think of just asking God for it, would you?  And why now?  Because you know you'd be asking for what you have no right to.  You're spoiled children, each wanting your own way. James 4.1-3 (MSG)

Life is full of wars, fights and quarrels.  It is full of desires and passions that wage war in us.  We see killings all around us (spiritual, emotional, mental and physical) every day.  Life is full of these givens.  So how do we talk with God about this and let Him know our hearts with effectiveness?

We must first ask God.  We need to start talking with God.  Notice the with.  We don't need to treat Him like Santa Claus where we deliver our wish list and get off of his lap grab our candy cane and hope to get what we ask.  We don't need to be hiding in the kitchen while we send Daddy's Girl into to talk with him.  We need to approach the throne of God, our Father, with boldness and confidence.  We are children of God.  So we need to ask.

We need to get over our feelings of insecurity or over confidence.  We need to move past our pride of thinking that we can handle the things of life on our own.  We need to begin to understand that God loves us infinitely and completely.  He cares about our needs.

"Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him."  Matthew 6.8

" Prayer doesn't change God, it changes me." C.S. Lewis ("Shadowlands" the movie)