Ask And Receive

 

 Jn 16:23b-28

Your Joy Will Be Complete

²³ In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. ²⁴ Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

²⁵ “Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. ²⁶ In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. ²⁷ No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. ²⁸ I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”

We hear this wonderful promise that Jesus will give us whatever we ask for, yet so often it seems our prayers go unheard, unheeded. At the same time Jesus speaks strongly about how much the Father loves us. If so, why my continued pain, my "unanswered" prayers for healing, the end of wars, the return to the faith of those who have drifted,  "liberty and justice for all", and so many other petitions?  Does God hear me, and if so, why doesn't he grant these requests? Always a mystery, it seems, but it is ours to believe that he hears our prayers and answers them in his own time and in the way that is best for us, which might not be the way we think they should be answered. May we not blame him for his apparent indifference or of turning a deaf ear to us, but rather open our hearts in trust that he will answer in his good time and in the way that is best for us.

Bro. Rene

Dear God, I believe you hear my prayers and will answer them in your good time, and because of your great love, in a way that is best for me. Amen.