Can we really ask God for what we want and expect it to be given to us? Christians have struggled with this problem throughout the ages. Most Christians experience just that. We have prayed for needs and desires and seen concrete answers appear. That’s good news. Through Jesus, we are reconciled to God the Father. God the Father is a good, loving, and generous God who delights in giving good gifts to His children.
In this collection of Bible verses, Ask and It Will Be Given to You, we explore what the Bible says about praying in faith, telling God what you want, and trusting in His wisdom when His answer is yes, no, or wait. The Bible encourages us to ask boldly, but it also teaches us to ask as beloved children who trust in the Father’s wisdom more than our own desired results.
Important points
“Ask and it will be given to you” encourages Christians to pray boldly, but not to treat God like a formula or a vending machine. God welcomes our needs and desires, and He answers them in perfect wisdom, whether the answer is “yes,” “no,” or “wait.” The Bible teaches that faithful prayer is shaped by trust, right motives, surrender, and unity with God’s will. Jesus modeled his honest prayer in Gethsemane, taking his requests to the Father while surrendering to God’s greater purpose. Believers can pray with anticipation because God is a loving Father who listens, answers, and gives good gifts to his children.
How can we ask God and pray in faith?
God loves to hear our prayers and invites us to look to Him for our needs. As we grow in our faith, develop a heart for Jesus, and purify our hearts, we pray more and more in alignment with Jesus’ will and desires for our lives. Jesus said.
“Ask, and it will be given to you. Ask, and you will find. Knock at the door, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks the door will be opened.” – Matthew 7:7-8 ESV
We can trust Jesus, but we also need to understand from this verse that Jesus is talking about a true relationship, not treating God like a genie in a bottle. The words God uses to “ask,” “seek,” and “knock” represent our pursuit of God and our persistent pursuit of Him when we seek what we want. Clearly, God is not a vending machine in heaven. Christians everywhere have stories of asking and not being received. Sometimes the reason is very clear. Sometimes it’s more difficult.
What does it mean to ask and it will be given to you?
This is not a conversation that can be answered immediately. Praying to God is not like filling out a purchase order. We don’t expect that if we come up with the right formula and check all the boxes, we’ll suddenly receive everything we ask for, especially if we’re making stupid, selfish requests, as we often do. James 4:2-3 warns us that we don’t always get what we want because we don’t ask or because we ask with the wrong motives.
But when we pray for the recovery of a sick loved one or the success of a marriage, God’s answer may be disappointing, even though we may not have been praying for the wrong motives. Then we must believe that even if God does not respond as we expect, God “works all things together for good to them that love him, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28 NASB). Jesus once prayed for another way in Gethsemane, but he surrendered his will to the will of the Father. “Then he went a little further and fell on his face and prayed, saying, “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, I beseech you.” Yet not as I will, but as you will,” (Matthew 26:39).
Asking for what we want and need is part of a complete relationship with God, even if God’s answer is “no.” We can always pray with faith and expectation, trusting in God’s character that He will respond with perfect wisdom, mercy, justice, and love.
Matthew 7:11 ESV “If you, evildoers, 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 18:19 ESV “Again I say to you, if any two of you agree to ask anything on earth, it will be done for them by your Father in heaven.”
Matthew 21:21-22 ESV “And Jesus answered them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what you did to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, “Be caught up and thrown into the sea,” it will be done to you.And if you have faith, you will receive whatever you ask in prayer.”
Mark 11:24 ESV “Therefore I say to you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
Luke 18:1-8 ESV “And Jesus told them a parable to the effect that they should always pray and not lose heart. Jesus said to them, “There was a judge in a certain city who feared neither God nor man.” And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, “Give me justice against my enemies.” For a while he refused, but then he said: “I fear neither God nor respect man, but since this widow continues to trouble me, I will give her justice, lest she come continually and overcome me.” John 14:14 ESV “If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” John 15:7 ESV “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be worked out for you.” John 15:16 ESV “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide. Then whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you.” John 15:16 ESV 16:24 ESV “Until now you have asked nothing in my name.” Ephesians 3:20 ESV “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. Philippians 4:6 Spanish “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and thanksgiving make your requests known to God.” 1:5 Spanish “If any of you lacks wisdom, then James 4:3 ESV “You ask and receive not, because you have a false desire to spend it on your own passions.” 1 John 3:22 ESV “And whatever we ask, we receive from God, because we keep his commandments and do what is pleasing to him.”
1 John 5:14-15 ESV “And this is the confidence we have in God, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears our requests. And if we know that He hears us whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of Him.” Job 22:28 ESV “You will decide things, and they will be established for you, and a light will shine in your path.” Psalm 37:4 ESV “Rejoice” Psalm 23:1-6 ESV “The Lord is my shepherd, and he makes me lie down in green pastures; though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” “Call upon me, and thy staff and thy rod comfort me; and thou anoint my head with oil before my enemies.” Jeremiah 33:3 ESV “Call upon me, and I will answer you and tell you great hidden things, which you do not know.”
How should we react when God says “yes”, “no”, or “wait”?
As followers of Jesus, our main focus is knowing and enjoying God. Prayer is one of the ways we communicate with God, and God always encourages us to pray in different ways. This is not meant to be a burden, but an invitation to know that God is always willing and listening to His children. As we read these “ask and receive” verses, it is clear that God wants us to ask for what we need and that He cares about the desires of our hearts.
We can trust God completely because He is just, holy, merciful, merciful, and loving. In the same way, we can bring our requests to God, giving thanks when he says yes, confessing our disappointment or sadness when he says no, and relying on faith that he knows what is best. As we mature in our faith, we learn more about how we should pray each day and about God’s will for various situations in our lives. God is always ready to guide us and accept our prayers.
Frequently asked questions about the meaning of “Ask and it will be given to you” in the Bible
What does ask and you receive mean?
“Ask, and it shall be given to you” means that God is inviting His children to bring their needs, desires, and desires to Him in faith. Prayer is not meant to be a formula for getting everything we want. Will God always give us what we ask for?
God always listens to His children, but He does not always respond in the way we expect. Sometimes God’s answer is “yes,” “no,” or we wait because God answers in perfect wisdom and love. How should Christians pray when they deeply desire something?
Christians can honestly offer their desires to God while surrendering to God’s will, just as Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, “not as I will, but as you will.” Why does James say that sometimes we ask and are not received?
James 4:3 teaches that wrong motives can influence our prayers. God cares not only about what we ask, but also about the desires and purposes that shape our requests. What does the Bible say about asking God for wisdom?
James 1:5 says that those who lack wisdom should ask God, who gives generously. This verse reminds believers that God welcomes honest requests for guidance.
For further reading
Photo credit: ©Unsplash/ABEL MARQUEZ
Lori Stanley Loeleveld is an author, coach, speaker, and Hobbit disruptor. She is the author of seven inspiring and challenging books, including Running from a Crazy Man, The Art of Hard Conversations, and God’s Abundant Mercy 40 Days of Living in His Compassion. She shares her thoughts at www.loriroeleveld.com.
