“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone asking, receives; and seeking, finds; and knocking, it will be opened. Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father from Heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” Luke 11:9-13.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
I told you to ask to receive. Many of you receive not because you ask not. James 4:2. But I told you to ask in a particular way if you want to receive.
Today we continue our series on how to hear My voice with Life Lesson No. 7: “The Protocol of Asking.” In My Kingdom, if you want results, there are protocols that govern the affairs and diplomatic operations of the Kingdom and if you want to be in the flow, and not kicking against the goad, it is wise to function within them for they are designed to set you free so you can rule and reign with Me by understanding spiritual laws. Too few of you are actually walking in the dominion authority I gave you over the earth. You let Satan push you around and take your territory. This ought not to be. Awake, sleeper, and Christ will give you light.
My Son told you, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? 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 what is good to those who ask Him!” Matthew 7:7-11. And at another time, He told you the very best gift you can ask for, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father from Heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” Luke 11:13. And My Son made you an amazing promise about asking, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” John 15:7.
And you may be wondering what this has to do with hearing My voice and I would answer “Everything.” When you ask, you want to hear an answer. Especially when you are asking for help with a particular project, problem, or life decision. One Word from Me can open up your destiny.
So what is the protocol of asking so that you can be sure I heard and answered your request? Because I tell you that I have selective hearing. “If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear.” Psalm 66:1. “The Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous.” Proverbs 15:29. “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.” Proverbs 15:8. And Jesus told you that when you stand to pray you must forgive anyone against whom you have a grievance.
Now let us consider the protocol of asking. First, you will notice that Jesus told you that you are asking your Father in Heaven for the good things, which denotes that this promise is for CHILDREN. You must be born again as a new creation in Christ to be My child. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:12-13. You must believe in your heart I raised Jesus from the dead, meaning all your sins have been expiated and are gone, and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you are saved and made righteous. “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38. “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.” Romans 8:14-17.
So this promise is for born again believers in My Son. He is the door to all answers for all of My promises are “YES” to you in Christ Jesus for you have been justified and made righteous by Him. In Him, you are one with Me. You can ask and receive good things from your Father. “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” James 1:17.
Do you remember when the Syrophoenician woman was asking for the healing of her daughter? Jesus told her it was not right to give the children’s bread to the dogs. Children are believers, they have spirits alive to Me and dead to sin, people who are not believers have spirits dead to Me and alive to sin. It is not right to take what is holy and give it to the dogs (those who function only in the soul and not the spirit, i.e., walk according to the flesh only) for they will trample it underfoot and perhaps tear you to shreds in the process. But if you recall this woman overcame and prevailed in getting an answer though at first Jesus had not heard the prayer of the wicked. How did she get it? By faith. The same way that Abraham was credited with righteousness even before Jesus was on the cross, faith in the promise. Faith in Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And she got her answer. By faith in the Son of God. You will note she called him “Lord” and “Son of David.” The Messiah. Matthew 15:22, 27. And Jesus verifies to you how she got the answer, “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at once. Matthew 15:28.
And that leads us to the second point of the protocol of asking: Faith. To receive you must ask in faith. My Son explains the protocol. “Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.” Mark 11:24. That is faith in My Word. Fully persuaded that what I promise I also will perform. Nothing is too wonderful for Me, nothing is impossible for Me, and all things are possible to those who believe that.
My servant James describes this, “if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” James 1:5-7. There is no peace for the wicked, they are tossed about like the waves of the sea, but those who have set their minds on Me (Jesus calls it abiding in Me and My Word abiding in you) I keep in perfect peace (shalom, shalom), because they trust in Me. You can trust in Me forever, for in Me, your LORD, you have an everlasting Rock. Isaiah 26:3-4.
So how do you know if you are asking in faith expecting an answer with good things from Me? You will have no anxiety over anything that the devil throws your way, whether through others or yourself, whether through storms or unclean spirits, or any accusation he brings against you. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:4-7. Faith is a rest, My rest where you abide by My Word in you. Faith comes by hearing My Word and writing it on the tablet of your heart.
So how do you ask in faith? With joyful expectation for the answer. “Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16. Faith comes with confidence to Me, your loving Father who gives good things to those who ask Him.
Another item of the protocol is in whose name you ask. Jesus explains, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” John 14:12-14. And again, “In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father. I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father.” John 16:26-28. You have power of attorney to ask in the Name above every other Name to whom every knee shall bow. I have given you His Name and it is the only name given among men by which you must be saved. When you ask, ask in His Name, but then it must be in accordance with His Will if you are His agent, which leads to the next item of the protocol.
And the last part of the protocol of asking is to ask according to My Will. What does that mean? It means you agree by faith with My promises and ask in faith for them as you remind Me of My Word. Witness with My Word. I tell you that I hear you when you witness with My Word—such as My promises of healing, provision, peace, victory, “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.” 1 John 5:14-15. Jesus is the High Priest of your confession (homologia: saying the same words in agreement that He says). “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.” Hebrews 4:14-15. And as you agree, He ushers you with Him right into the Holy of Holies to receive mercy and find grace for just what you need at that moment plus extra for every good work. When you have My Word on it already you know I will answer.
My servant James wrote, “What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” James 4:1-4. You cannot serve both Me and mammon, that is, idols.
And what is the best gift that will bring you all the others? Well, first of all Jesus, for in Him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and in Him is eternal life and all healing and blessing. He is the door to all of My magnificent promises. He is your great High Priest and your great good Shepherd. Rooted and grounded in Him you draw up answers for in Him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 2:2-3. And wisdom is the principal thing for a good life journey. “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.” Colossians 2:6-7. But Jesus came to bring you a gift, another Paraclete, to be with you, on you, and in you always: the Holy Spirit. And I will give the Holy Spirit to My children who ask Me. And to those who keep My Word I give Him without measure. John 3:34. And if you want to hear My voice that is how you will hear it. By My Spirit in your spirit. ‘“Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.’ For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.” 1 Corinthians 2:9-13.
I love you. Ask and you shall receive. But there is a protocol: Be My child by receiving Jesus as Lord (then you can pray “Our Father” with Jesus your brother), ask in faith, ask in the mighty Name of Jesus, and ask according to and in agreement with My Will as expressed in My many promises in My Word.