Good Things

Good Things


Jesus made some amazing promises for those who put their trust in Him. Do you believe His promise to give you what you ask for?

• Matthew 7:7-8 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

Seems pretty straightforward – ‘Ask, and it will be given to you…’ However, I am very confident all believers have asked Jesus for something they haven’t gotten. So why is that? Was Jesus wrong? Was Jesus lying? Or worse yet, did Jesus not know what He was talking about?

If you have asked Jesus for something and not received it, perhaps you just haven’t received it yet! God does things according to His schedule, not yours (or anyone else’s).

• Ecclesiastes 3:1 To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:

Another possibility is that you have asked for the wrong thing(s)! What Jesus said in Matthew 7:7-8 is absolutely true. But, as with every verse in the Bible, scripture must be interpreted and applied with consideration of all other scripture. In other words, you can’t just pluck a scripture out of the Bible and apply it any way you want to.

Just a couple verses later, Jesus said:

• Matthew 7:11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

Jesus promised that God will give ‘good things’ to those who ask Him. I believe that God’s view of good things is often quite a bit different from ours. Imagine a young child asking their father if they can eat ice cream for every meal, stay up way past bedtime every night, or to play with a loaded handgun. The child may say please, beg, and cry to get what they want. But no matter how persistent a child is in asking, the father has the perspective and experience to understand what is good for the child. A child sometimes doesn’t understand what is good for them. 

Our Heavenly Father is all knowing; He is infinitely wiser, smarter, more loving and more experienced than His children are. So, in general, when we ask for something that is not good for us, He is not going to give it to us. Certainly there are exceptions. He will sometimes allow or bring things into our lives that are very difficult. He does this to discipline and teach us (see Hebrews 12:5-6 and James 1:2-4). But in the long run, these things are for our good.

So if God is ready, willing and able to give us good things when we ask Him for them, how do we know what to ask for? Here are some verses to consider.

Asking for ‘Good Things’

• 1 John 5:14-15 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
• Good things are in accordance with God’s will. But God’s will is a very complex subject. God desires some things. He allows other things. And sometimes, God makes things happen. And although we can’t fully grasp all this means, we can’t use our current lack of complete understanding as an excuse not to seek out, trust in, and pray for His will. He has given us His Word. He has given believers in Jesus Christ His Holy Spirit. He has given us the privilege of prayer. He has given us other Christians to provide wise counsel on such matters.
• James 4:3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
• Good things don’t align with our selfish, covetous, self-centered desires.
• John 14:13-14 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
• Praying in the name of Jesus is not a magic formula that automatically results in you getting what you want. Praying in the name of Jesus means you pray in the power and authority of His holy name. It means you submit to His Lordship and ask that things be done according to His righteous desires and plans. It means you turn your requests over to Christ and trust that His way is perfect.

Here are a few Biblical examples of good things people asked Jesus for. Let them serve as an example for you to:

Ask Jesus to -

Help Your Unbelief

• Mark 9:24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
• Doubting that God can do what you ask or that He will do the right thing is a great way to make your prayers ineffective (see Matthew 21:22 and James 1:5-8). Ask Jesus to help you believe.

Increase Your Faith

• Luke 17:5 And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”
• Your faith in God can be measured in quality and quantity. Quality is about your level of confidence that God can do all He said and promised. Quantity is about how often you genuinely apply your faith in God to the obstacles, needs and problems you and others face in life. Ask Jesus to increase the quality and quantity of your faith.

Tell You Who He Is

• John 18:33 Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?”
• Many people have asked Jesus who He is; some in person, some in prayer. The Bible records three basic responses from Jesus when He was asked if He is the Messiah/Savior/Son of God/etc.: 1. No answer (see Matthew 21:23-27); 2. An affirmative answer in the form of a parable, Old Testament scripture reference or a statement about the testimony of His good works (see Matthew 11:1-6); and 3. A clear and direct affirmative answer (see Luke 22:70). Humbly and sincerely ask Jesus to show you who He is.

Show You the Way

• John 14:5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”
• Jesus is the way to the Father, the way to truth, the way to eternal life. Isn’t that worth asking Him about?

Heal You/Heal Others

• Mark 10:51 So Jesus answered and said to him, “What do you want Me to do for you?” The blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.”
• Matthew 8:5-7 Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, 6 saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.” 7 And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”
• Jesus has healed countless people. Only He knows if being healed is a good thing for you or the one(s) you are praying for. Don’t make assumptions. Don’t try to figure it out yourself. Ask, see what He does, then you will know.

Give You Guidance/Direction

• Matthew 19:16 Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”
• Luke 3:10 So the people asked him, saying, “What shall we do then?”
• Luke 3:12 Then tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?”
• Luke 3:14 Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, “And what shall we do?” So he said to them, “Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.”
• If you truly want to know what Jesus expects of you, He truly wants to tell you. Ask Him.

Bottom line, we should seek God diligently, pray for what we believe are good things, and then trust Him to do what is in our long-term (eternal) best interest. If you have asked Jesus for something that you believe is a good thing and you haven’t received it yet, be patient; perhaps it is coming soon. If you never receive it, He has something better in store for you.

• Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
• James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

And just to make sure I don't leave three important questions I asked at the beginning of this devotion unanswered: Jesus is never wrong, He can't lie, and He always knows what He is talking about!  Why, because He is God!!!


Prayer

Eternal Father, You are love, You know what we need and when we need it. I pray Father that You will give Your children the faith and patience to wait for and accept the good things You provide, and to understand that when You don’t provide something requested in prayer, that from an eternal perspective, it was not a good thing. Help us to trust completely in You! I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

 

  

Are You Listening?

Are You Listening?


In Psalm 141:3-4 King David is praying earnestly that God will help him live a righteous life. He specifically prays that God will:

• Keep him from speaking evil
• Keep him from desiring wicked works or engaging in them with others
• Keep him from partaking in the delicacies (spoils/plunder/niceties) resulting from the wicked ways of others

Then he prays:

• Psalm 141:5 Let the righteous strike me; It shall be a kindness. And let him rebuke me; It shall be as excellent oil; Let my head not refuse it. For still my prayer is against the deeds of the wicked.

The King of Israel asks God to use righteous people to help keep him from wickedness. David tells God he will view the correction/rebuke of others as a kindness; as something good. He asks God to help him accept correction/criticism while he continues to pray against the wicked deeds of others.

Let’s look at three examples from the Bible where God does use others rebuke David.


Nathan’s Parable (2 Samuel 12:1-12)
The LORD uses Nathan the prophet to confront King David about his adultery with Bathsheba and then murdering her husband.

The Approach

• 2 Samuel 12:1-2 Then the Lord sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him: “There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds.
• Nathan tells David a story about a rich man who selfishly takes something of value from a poor man. David is enraged! He says the rich man will die and repay four times what he took.

The Point

• 2 Samuel 12:7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.
• Nathan reveals that his story was a parable. He tells David that he is the rich man in the story. He confronts David about his sins of adultery and murder.
• Read Psalm 51 for David’s prayer of repentance.

The Woman of Tekoa (2 Samuel 14:1-21)
Joab uses a woman from Tekoa to confront King David about his un-forgiveness towards Absalom.

The Approach

• 2 Samuel 14:2-3 And Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman, and said to her, “Please pretend to be a mourner, and put on mourning apparel; do not anoint yourself with oil, but act like a woman who has been mourning a long time for the dead. 3 Go to the king and speak to him in this manner.” So Joab put the words in her mouth.
• The wise woman from Tekoa tells David a story and claims that she is a widow. She tells the king that one of her two sons killed the other during a fight and the entire family wants her remaining son to die as punishment for his crime; thus leaving her no heir. David says that she nor her son shall be harmed.

The Point

• 2 Samuel 14:13 So the woman said: “Why then have you schemed such a thing against the people of God? For the king speaks this thing as one who is guilty, in that the king does not bring his banished one home again.
• David figures out that Joab has put the woman up to this. Her story points to the sin of un-forgiveness in David’s heart towards his son Absalom (who murdered one of David’s other sons named Amnon).
• Read 2 Samuel 14:33 to see how David eventually uses a kiss to express forgiveness towards his son Absalom.

Bathsheba’s Reminder (1 Kings 1:11-27)
Nathan uses Bathsheba to confront King David about his negligence in not appointing a successor.

The Approach

• 1 Kings 1:13-14 Go immediately to King David and say to him, ‘Did you not, my lord, O king, swear to your maidservant, saying, “Assuredly your son Solomon shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne“? Why then has Adonijah become king?’ 14 Then, while you are still talking there with the king, I also will come in after you and confirm your words.”
• Knowing that Nathan will be coming right behind her to reinforce her claim, Bathsheba reminds David of the oath he made to her about Solomon becoming king.

The Point

• 1 Kings 1:18 So now, look! Adonijah has become king; and now, my lord the king, you do not know about it.
• Bathsheba and Nathan inform David that as he lay in bed dying, in the absence of leadership, Adonijah has appointed himself king. David recognizes the need to act immediately and admits he has not fulfilled the oath he made before the Lord about Solomon becoming king (1 Kings 1:30).
• Read 1 Kings 1:32-35 for David’s formal proclamation that Solomon is to be anointed as King of Israel.

We are never really told why parables, stories and schemes were used by those rebuking David. Certainly correcting or criticizing the King of Israel was a delicate matter. But one thing is made very clear by these scriptural accounts, David was listening!

God is ready, willing and able to use

righteous people to speak

Godly wisdom and truth into your life.

Are you listening to them?

Prayerfully read these related verses.

• Proverbs 1:5 A wise man will hear and increase learning, And a man of understanding will attain wise counsel,
• Proverbs 13:1 A wise son heeds his father’s instruction, But a scoffer does not listen to rebuke
• Proverbs 19:20 Listen to counsel and receive instruction, That you may be wise in your latter days.
• Matthew 18:15 “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother.
• Galatians 6:1 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.

If you have surrendered your life to Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, then you stand righteous before God (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Perhaps God is wanting to use you to speak

Godly wisdom and truth into the life of someone you know.

Are you listening to God?

Prayer

Father, I thank You for my Christian brothers and sisters that are willing to speak Godly wisdom and truth to me when I need to hear it. I beg You to give me ears to hear. Thank You for these three examples from Your Word that show how important it is to listen. I pray that You will give Your children ears to hear Your truth regardless of how difficult that may be. I pray that You will embolden Your children to follow the gracious Biblical method of addressing these issues given in the New Testament. I praise You for Your goodness. I love You because You first loved me. I pray in the powerful name of my Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.