The Father Loves Us To Be Specific In Our Asking

Recently I have been reading the Book of Judges as part of my daily devotion and I cannot help but noticed that the children of Israel did not completely carried out what Moses and later Joshua had instructed them to do when they inhabited the Promised Land. Moses commanded them to completely drive out all the inhabitants in the land and to occupy them for the land was promised to Abraham their forefather and they were the executors of the inheritance (Deuteronomy 31: 1-6).

In fact the land was described as "a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant" (Joshua 24:13) and all those land were already promised and given to them to enjoy. However, after the death of Joshua and in the time of the judges (leaders/deliverers), we read that the children of Israel did not completely conquer all the lands but left pockets of the original inhabitants intact. And looking back at history, we now see the current Middle-East problems.

What went wrong? Was God to blame for them not driving out the local inhabitants? Certainly the Lord had already declared that He had given them the land but they were reluctant to take full ownership of what God had already given. You see, when the Lord said it is given, it is already given - His words are as good as done. Remember, at the Creation, God spoke and it was so. Here it is recorded that God spoke and so as far as He is concerned, it is already as good as belonging to them. The problem lied in their NOT appropriating for themselves what the Father had given. All the children of Israel had to do was to go and take the land for themselves and the amazing part is that the Lord Himself will go before them and even wins the battles for them. Ans then, this is amazing, He ascribes the victory to them when in reality He fought and overcame the enemies; they just had to obey.

So what am I alluding to? All the blessings of God had already been won for us on the Cross when Jesus our Lord died and now all that is left to be done is to just ask Him for the blessings. But then, you will say, 'since all the blessings are already mine, then should I not automatically get them even without me opening my mouth and asking?'

Indeed, everything had already been given but we still need to ask and claim them for ourselves. Certainly the Israelites had been given the land but they still had to walk in and take it for themselves. The scriptures tell us that they took th eeasy way out - they lived alongside the local inhabitants. I am sure you do not want to wind up in Heaven and the Lord opens a huge door leading to your treasure house and you discover many large items gift-wrapped lining on the floor and reaching to the ceiling and each item has a name-tag with your name embosses in gold. These are blessings the Lord has for you but because you did not ask for them, you did not claim them.

Do I really have to be specific in my asking? Can I not ask and thank him in general and then receive my blessings? Lets look at Matthew 14:22-32 at the account of Jesus walking on water to the disciples. In verse 27 we read that the Lord Himself comforted them and told the disciples that it was He Who was walking on the water towards them. So all 12 disciples heard the assuring words but only Peter opened his mouth and asked Him whether he could walk to Him. And since he asked, obviously we now have the account of Peter walking on water! why no account of Thomas or Matthew or Judas or Thaddeus or John or James or Simon or Andrew or any other disciple walking on water?

There are no more accounts other than that of Peter of anyone walking on water. Peter asked and he received the experience; the others heard the reassurance but they did nothing further and they ended up seeing Peter walk. Many of us may be watching others receive their blessings from the Lord and silently kicking ourselves for not being forthright in asking for our own blessings.

As a parent, I can share with you how I see the Father's hand being extended towards us lovingly and waiting for us to tell Him specifically what we want from Him. Don't get me wrong here. Our Father is ever so generous to extravagantly bless us and He is waiting for us to just tell Him our heart's desire. Recently I had the pleasure of blessing my son with a suitcase he needed for his overseas business trips. He had been 'researching' for a while on what he wanted exactly but it was there in the department store that he finally settled on his choice and we decided to pick up his choice and made the payment. Now I could have gone out there and bought him a suitcase but that might not suit his taste. Now he is thoroughly satisfied with his choice and i know he will use and enjoy the blessing.

That is the same with our Heavenly Father. He loves us to be specific in our asking and we need to be proactive to ask. Don't just sit there expecting to receive without asking - go on and ask Him expectantly and thank Him and when you receive your blessing, show your appreciation and thank Him. And when you do that, you are worshipping Him and He is pleased with your worship.