IT WILL BE OPENED

 

You Ask and Do Not Receive!

When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD had filled the LORD'S house. When all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the LORD on the temple, they bowed their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshiped and praised the LORD, saying: "For He is good, For His mercy endures forever." Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the LORD. 2 Chronicles 7:1-4

     The bible is definitely not hedonistic but tells things as they are both good and bad. God wants and desires to give His children many good things. He has stated in His word:

"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, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? "Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? "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 good things to those who ask Him! Matthew 7:7-11

But God has also given some conditions that God along with His word on receiving good things including:

"Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. "Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. Matthew 7:12-15

Many pastors and preachers have promised God’s people many things which only deceive them and are not true. For those who have an evil and wicked lustful heart and ask things shall not receive them, because they ask things for the wrong reasons. God’s word clearly states:

You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. James 4:4-2

Many of God’s people, including their religious leaders, are more friends of the world than they are friends of God. They try to serve God and mammon and hopes that He does not notice their betrayal. They are like the poor ground that Jesus talked about who had no depth and endured only for a while. When tribulation or persecution arose because of the word, immediately they stumbled. While others received the seed of the Word of God, heard it, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choked the word, and they became unfruitful.

Men offer many solutions to problems. They are very resourceful and powerful in their minds and they deceive many with their crafty ideas. They bring many to walk along new and diverse paths that lead directly away from God. But God’s true ones are not to be deceived by them. They are all liars and children of lies. God in Christ Jesus has only one way and that is the Cross. He has no pat answers except to be covered with the Blood of Jesus and yield all their person to Him.  Men are drawn away and become enticed by their passions and lusts resulting in personal defeat and destruction. Many perish in flames of their own making. They desire the comfort of their high lifestyle missing the point of the Lord’s birth and death. It was meant to set men free of themselves--their selfish ways. Man always proposes but God disposes. He will do away with everyone and everything that is not of Him.

True prayer should bring down the Holy Ghost fire from heaven and the glory of the LORD should fill the temple which are God’s people. God’s word is true:

Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17

Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. 1 Corinthians 6:18-20

Pastor Karl Strader, whose Carpenter’s Home Church had a great membership fight and split and whose son was put into jail for 45 years for robbing and raping financially the sheep with his dad’s help, once stated that every time there would be a prayer and fasting in the church, he would get himself in trouble. Well the Holy Ghost is a fire who deals with carnality in the lives of God’s people. Those who are carnal and refuse to change will only get in trouble with God when they pray.

The fact of the matter is that God is never on the side of the evil and wicked even if they are evangelical pastors and preachers. He is on the side of seeking and doing true justice, righteousness and truth and being blameless before God and men.  The reasons that God blessed Abraham and judged Sodom and Gomorrah is true today for any one just like it was yesterday and will be tomorrow.

Then the men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on the way. And the LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, "since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? "For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice, that the LORD may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him."

And the LORD said, "Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, "I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know." Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the LORD. Genesis 18:16-22

According to the Lord, Abraham was going to be a great and mighty nation because God knew that He would command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice. When was the last time you heard a preacher in the house of God talked about doing righteousness and justice?  You will hear about Souls. souls and souls and money,  money and money but very little about keeping the way of the Lord, being blameless before God and men, not showing partiality or being a respecter of person, or that God’s judgments comes upon groups of people and individuals when others cry out to God because of their injustices and the sins of others.

God is a God of love and compassion and mercies and grace but He does not take sin or injustices lightly. He patiently waits for people to repent and to bring fruits worthy of repentance. Then when they do not He brings about sudden and terrible judgment. God has never through out history changed in doing this.  His word is true:

For the upright will dwell in the land, And the blameless will remain in it;  But the wicked will be cut off from the earth,  And the unfaithful will be uprooted from it. Proverbs 2:21-22

Do not enter the path of the wicked, And do not walk in the way of evil.  Avoid it, do not travel on it;  Turn away from it and pass on.  For they do not sleep unless they have done evil;  And their sleep is taken away unless they make someone fall.  For they eat the bread of wickedness,  And drink the wine of violence.  But the path of the just is like the shining sun,  That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.  The way of the wicked is like darkness; They do not know what makes them stumble. Psalm 4;14-19

The definition of what is evil is a very interesting thing. It does not matter what men define to be evil but what God defines as evil. In God’s eyes even a good thing can be defined as evil.  God knows and sees the heart and the motivations of a man in any matter even a charitable deed and a silent prayer.  God’s word records:

Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much.Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans. So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; "for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood." Matthew 12:41-44

Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. "The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men-extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 'I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.'

"And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!'"I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Luke 18:9-14

Men get demoted and humbled by God and they can not understand why. They do not see their self righteousness, hypocrisy, and sins and they think that life is unfair. But God knows and sees everything and His word is true:

Do not take me away with the wicked And with the workers of iniquity, Who speak peace to their neighbors,  But evil is in their hearts.  Give them according to their deeds, And according to the wickedness of their endeavors; Give them according to the work of their hands; Render to them what they deserve.  Because they do not regard the works of the LORD,  Nor the operation of His hands, He shall destroy them  And not build them up.  Blessed be the LORD,  Because He has heard the voice of my supplications! Psalm 28:3-6

O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongs-O God, to whom vengeance belongs, shine forth! Rise up, O Judge of the earth; Render punishment to the proud. LORD, how long will the wicked, How long will the wicked triumph? They utter speech, and speak insolent things; All the workers of iniquity boast in themselves.  They break in pieces Your people, O LORD,  And afflict Your heritage. They slay the widow and the stranger,  And murder the fatherless.  Yet they say, "The LORD does not see, Nor does the God of Jacob understand."

Understand, you senseless among the people;  And you fools, when will you be wise? He who planted the ear, shall He not hear?  He who formed the eye, shall He not see?  He who instructs the nations, shall He not correct,  He who teaches man knowledge?  The LORD knows the thoughts of man,  That they are futile. Psalm 94:1-11

Men are foolish to think that God who is the Judge of the earth, shall not hear, see, correct men and bring vengeance, punishment and judgment to the proud and those who speak insolent things.  In other words they are real unwise in not seeing that they will reap what they have sown. They have sown discord, selfishness, self-pity, greed, lust and pride of life. But they do not want to face the consequences of their actions and attitudes. They have had no pity on others but only hard heartedness and protest that they are innocent of the calamity that has befallen on them. They missed the words of God which states:

Oh, love the LORD, all you His saints! For the LORD preserves the faithful, And fully repays the proud person. Psalm 31:23

Behold, God is my helper; The Lord is with those who uphold my life.  He will repay my enemies for their evil.  Cut them off in Your truth. I will freely sacrifice to You;  I will praise Your name, O LORD, for it is good.  For He has delivered me out of all trouble;  And my eye has seen its desire upon my enemies. Psalm 54:4-7

Many who call themselves God’s children according to God’s point of view  are  foolish and corrupt and self-centered. They care only for self. They are cynical and unkind and unloving and cruel to others. They have not understood the seriousness of the word of Jesus to them:

"Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. "And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. "But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made.

"The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, 'Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.'

"Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. "But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, 'Pay me what you owe!'

"So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.' "And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt.

"So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. "Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 'Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?'

"And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. "So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses."  Matthew 18:23-35

The measure that people measure to others is also measured by God to them. Then people wonder why such terrible judgment has hit them. Be it financially calamity or a natural disaster. God not only judges and instructs nations, He also does it to individuals and groups of people in the current time of life.  So sometimes people ask and receive things that they have never expected because they have never dealt by the Holy Spirit with the evil and wickedness in their heart. Then they are surprised instead of being blessed they had been cursed by God. But it is their own choices and deeds that result in the appropriate consequences. God only gave them what they had sowed and believed for both good and bad?