Asking and Receiving

⁵Then He said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves;

 ⁶for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him';

 ⁷and from inside he answers and says, 'Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.'

 ⁸"I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet ^(D)because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

 ⁹"So I say to you, ^(E)ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

 ¹⁰"For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened.

 ¹¹"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?

 ¹²"Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he?

 ¹³"^(F)If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?"
-Luke 11:5-13

Jesus is calling us to persistence. (As a side note, the words ask, seek, and knock could also be translated keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking). He is calling us to ask of Him, seek in Him, and knock on His door to the extant that we are consumed with Him. How could we ask of or seek after any other? Who answers but God alone?
This is such an amazing passage for the believing Christian. It is amazing to know that if we ask of Him, He will give. Let's look at a few more examples of asking/receiving in the Word:

But if any of you ^(A)lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and ^(B)it will be given to him.

 ⁶But he must ^(C)ask in faith ^(D)without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, ^(E)driven and tossed by the wind.

 ⁷For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,

 ⁸being a ^(F)double-minded man, ^(G)unstable in all his ways. 

 James 1:5-8

So, if we lack wisdom, we are to ask of God, who gives to all generously. But if we doubt, instead of asking in faith, we should not expect to receive anything from God, for we would be double-minded and unstable. 

Here is a question that has been on my heart concerning the privelage of asking and receiving:

How do we know if what we are asking for is good and perfect--according to God's will?

Let's go back to the Scriptures:

 "You ask and ^(D)do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures."       -James 4:3

"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ^(G)ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 

  -John 15:7

While we have this wonderful promise from Jesus in the book of John, we also know from the book of James that there are some who ask and do not receive. Why?

First, there are those who ask and do not receive because they are asking for something that would fulfill their own pleasures. They ask with no concern for their brother or the church or the lost or the sake of the Lord's Name. They want their worldly pleasures satisfied. So how do we ask in faith for our heart's desire and trust that it will be given? How can we be sure that our heart's desire is not self-seeking and pleasure-oriented? The answer is in John 15:7, as quoted above. If we are abiding in Christ, reading His word and hiding it in our hearts, THEN we can ask whatever we wish because our heart's desire will be in accordance with the Lord's will and Word. Whatever we have put into our hearts (whether it be love of the world or love for His Word) will come out when we ask of Him. (See Luke 6:45)

If we are faithful to store up the Word within our hearts, whatever we ask will be of the Lord.