Rev. Johnson V.
10th July 2011

Our God would rather that we understand, process, assimilate, comprehend His ways and methods, rather than follow instructions like robots. Which is why, He spoke through parables and referred to everyday situations, so that we can understand His message. A good example of this, is what our Lord Jesus says in Luke 11:9-13.

Our Lord Jesus was talking about prayer. He likened it to a relationship between a parent and a child. Our Lord was trying to teach us how to pray and how to receive answers to the prayers we pray. Being heard through prayer, is not about the amount of time we spend, or the pitch or volume of our prayer, it depends on our relationship with our Father.  Just like a parent knows the voice of his/her child, God knows the voices of His children.

Whatever our behavior, if we are children of God, we are assured that we will receive His inheritance. But just because we have an inheritance, it does not mean we can be careless. Our immaturity can prevent us from truly enjoying the benefits of His blessings in our life. As a result, God does not leave the blessing in the level that we are in. He leaves it in a higher level so that we are forced to grow up and go up, if we are to attain the blessing. Our Father wants us to learn how to Ask, Seek and Knock – we must learn to ASK. Our God knows that when we ask (ask, seek and knock), our faith will increase. Our blessings are not dependent on our circumstances or the devil. It depends on our relationship with our heavenly Father. We must not allow anything to take the place of that relationship. God will remember us even if everyone else forgets us. And that is really all that matters. If God is for us… we must learn to smile at the storm, knowing and trusting that there is nothing to fear. When we wait, preparing ourselves for our blessing, then we are assured of receiving our blessing.

The Bible compares prayer to a real-life situation where a child asks a parent for something. The Bible uses the term, “you are evil”, to mean that we humans are prone to emotional mood swings.

Our Lord compares the following

• Bread and stone
  • Bread represents the living Word of God.
  • Stone represents the curse of the law. The law was first written on stone tablets and law breakers were to be stoned to death.
  • Our Lord says that He will show mercy and grace instead of condemnation.
• Fish and serpent
  • Fish represents miraculous provision (as in the time when Peter caught a large catch of fish when he obeyed our Lord Jesus, even after he spent the whole night fishing with nothing to show). It also represents fellowship with God, as in the time when our Lord Jesus cooked the disciples a seaside breakfast after His resurrection.
  • Serpent was cursed, is considered evil and leads to death and destruction.
  • God will bless even our wants and desires. For example, if you ask for car, not only will He give you that, but He will also bless it so that it runs well and does not meet with accidents etc.
• Egg and scorpion
  • Eggs are not instant miracles. They take time to hatch. These blessings require brooding, waiting and praying before they are realized. If we are to hear from God, we have to invest time and energy. Praying and waiting is the time when our frequency is tuned into His radio signal. Our blessings are not linked to our bosses or our offices. It relies solely on our Father.
  • Scorpions sting from the tail and they attack without us necessarily being aware.

Whatever we pray for, God will give us the Holy Spirit with that, to preserve the blessing and equip us to mature into the blessing. I Corinthians 2:9-12 says that the Holy Spirit is the only One who can show us what God has planned for us. If not for the Holy Spirit, we can miss the blessings of God. Romans 8:26-28 tells us that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us and helps us in our weaknesses.
We must ASK – ask, seek and knock – because a blessing awaits us. It is based on our relationship with our Father.