20 September 2023 – Start by Asking

Most people when they pray, they start by asking. Jesus said, ask, seek and knock.

Matthew 7:7(NIV) “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

Matthew 21:22(NIV) “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

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

We all start with the asking part; that is the list of things that we want God to do. That is the list of what we ask God every day. The list starts with hear me, keep me, bless me, give me, forgive me, save my children and friends. This is what we pray every day.

This is also where the battle rises, in the mind. Waiting on the Lord starts in the body.

2 Corinthians 10:4(EXB) We fight with weapons that are different from those the world uses [not merely human weapons: not of the flesh]. Our weapons have power from God that can destroy the enemy’s strong places [strongholds; fortresses]. We destroy people’s arguments [human reasoning; sophistries]

2 Corinthians 10:3-5(EHV) For even though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage war in the way the sinful flesh does. Certainly, the weapons of our warfare are not those of the flesh, but weapons made powerful by God for tearing down strongholds. We tear down thoughts such as all arrogance that rises up against the knowledge of God, and we make every thought captive so that it is obedient to Christ.

The issue is that while praying, you don’t feel anything in the body thus the fighting starts with the mind. The longer you keep waiting in prayer, and keep on fighting the mind (flesh), something starts to happen.

Isaiah 40:29-31(TLB) He gives power to the tired and worn out, and strength to the weak. Even the youths shall be exhausted, and the young men will all give up. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.