Abuse.  Neglect.  Dysfunctional families.  Sadly, these words have become the norm in today’s society.  Marriages dissolve.  Children are raised by their grandparents.  Siblings have not seen or spoken to each other in years.  Hurting people are everywhere.  There is a tremendous need in our society for people to belong.  While surrounded by the masses, loneliness grips the hearts of many.

            What is prevalent in society has a way of bleeding over into the church and even into our relationship with the Lord.  It is not easy for someone who was raised in a family where they were afraid to make themselves vulnerable—to reach out to God. 

            “I did it my way,” is not just the lyrics of a secular song, but it is also the motto that many live by today.  To admit that we need anyone’s assistance is a sign of weakness.  No wonder we are reluctant to ask God for help.  We are not accustomed to asking anyone for anything.

            Look at what we are missing!  Neglecting to ask God for what we need is equivalent to living in a house with electricity but never flipping the switch.  We have tremendous, unused power available to us.  Our lives could be so much easier, but we simply neglect to do the one thing that is required to activate the “electricity.”  So we sit in darkness, stumbling into things, and limited in what we can accomplish simply because we fail to access the power that is at our fingertips.

            Throughout the Bible, we are told to ask, seek, and knock.  It is not natural or easy for us, and certainly not our first inclination.  But, before you resist, take a look at these promises:        

·         “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us:  And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him” (1 John 5:14,15).

·         “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:  For everyone that asked receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8).

·         “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall

                 receive” (Matthew 21:22).

·         “Have faith in God… What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (Mark 11:22-24). 

So many things that we need are just a prayer away!  “And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear” (Isaiah 65:24).