Ask and You will Receive

Don’t focus on what you have lost, focus on what you have found.

Don’t focus on what you have dropped, but what you have picked up.

What is it that you carry, what do you possess?

Genesis 37:14-16 And [Jacob] said to him[Joseph], Go, I pray you, see whether everything is all right with your brothers and with the flock; then come back and bring me word. So he sent him out of the Hebron Valley, and he came to Shechem. And a certain man found him, and behold, he had lost his way and was wandering in the open country. The man asked him, What are you trying to find? And he said, I am looking for my brothers. Tell me, I pray you, where they are pasturing our flocks.

Genesis 37:18-19 And when they saw him far off, even before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him. And they said one to another, See, here comes this dreamer and master of dreams.

Changing tides.

At first a drawing out, then a pushing forward. Lift up your hands and watch me make a splash. The wings of water, the golden eagle. There is gold on the edge. The reflection of the sun covers the water all around. It is golden.

The sun is setting on this wave. The sun is shining on this wave.

At first wading in the mud, but then watch closely as you wash off the dirt, you will find gold in your hands.

Wrestling with the slippery rock, up to your arms in it, a boulder, the size of me (but just a spek to Him, a left over an off cut of a monument he had made) but I was unable to move it, no matter how much I pushed against it, it was a grind, it became harder to move, as the mud dried. 

What are you asking for?

“Ask me to move, move it, move it (quickly)”

Don’t you just love the way God gives you both the question and the answer! I asked him this on the Sunday and on the Tuesday we met with new clients and he had over he past 12 months pushed aside all obstacles in the way of their success and positioned us at the best provider of services to them. On face value no-one but God could have seen the perfect alignment of their need and our capability!

Then before I could write what God had said then this word in the Sunday Sermon

Matthew 7:7-12 What are you asking God for! Keep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened. Or what man is there of you, if his son asks him for a loaf of bread, will hand him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will hand him a serpent? If you then, evil as you are, know how to give good and advantageous gifts to your children, how much more will your Father Who is in heaven [perfect as He is] give good and advantageous things to those who keep on asking Him! So then, whatever you desire that others would do to and for you, even so do also to and for them, for this is (sums up) the Law and the Prophets.

More water, water that moves, a torrent flowed, a rushing stream, washed away the mud, until none remained. But then the barnacle remained. But then sparks in the water. A cutting. A cut and polish.

And you shall ask where did the cutting come from. How did this happen?

2 Kings 16:17 [To keep Assyria’s king from getting them] King Ahaz cut off the panels of the bases [of the ten lavers] and removed the laver from each of them; and he took down the Sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it and put it upon stone supports.

Sparks in the water that cannot be extinguished. Fire that cannot be consumed. Water carries my fire. It is a mystery that cannot be explained, but will be revealed.

And revealed it was. Today I encourage you to ask God afresh for the question and the answer in your life and see Him move!