Should Believers Ask God For Blessings?
Q: If believers are already blessed in Christ (Ephesians 1:3), should we still ask God for blessings—and how do verses about asking and seeking fit with that? My teacher says we no longer need to ask for blessings. Is this true?
Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
A: I would respectfully disagree with your teacher. It’s true that the Bible says that we are blessed in Jesus Christ, there is no doubt about that. But part of that blessing is to receive it from God. Please remember that the promises of God are never meant to make us fatalistic. They’re never meant to make us say, “Well, God has promised it, so I don’t need to do anything about it. It’s already mine.”
Instead, we see the pattern again and again in the Scriptures of God’s people coming before Him and saying, “Lord, You have promised this, now be faithful to Your promise.” As children of God, we bring the promises of God before Him in prayer. We don’t presume upon them in a fatalistic way, we respectfully and boldly call upon God to fulfill His promise.
Concerning this issue, I would say that your teacher has misunderstood about the connection between God’s promises and our prayers. Because God has promised something does not mean that we don’t pray about it, but it means that we pray about it with great faith. I think it’s appropriate for us to be specific about our prayers. Yes, we can pray, “Lord, bless me,” but we can also ask for a specific blessing such as, “Lord, would You work in this particular way?” At times God puts us into a season where we recognize a specific need, and then we ask Him for it, and He answers in a very particular way. We realize this isn’t just chance or coincidence. God is real. He’s there. He hears our prayers, and He responds to those prayers.
God has promised to provide for our needs. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told His disciples look at the birds. If God cares for the birds, He’ll care for you. (see Matthew 6:25-34). But Jesus also said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Pray after this pattern: Give us this day our daily bread.” (see Matthew 6:9-13). But those two attitudes of trusting and praying do not contradict each other at all.
So, how do the following verses fit into that principle?
Matthew 7:7-8 – 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.
Luke 11:9-10 – So I say to you, 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.
James 4:2b – You do not have because you do not ask.
I think they fit together beautifully. Spurgeon said something great about the line, “Ask, seek, and knock.” Spurgeon has a way of just looking at the Scriptures and seeing things that are there. He said, “A door implies an opening. What is a door meant for if it is always to be kept shut? The wall might as well have remained without a break. I have seen certain houses and public buildings with the form and appearance of doors where there were none; the sham doorway being made for architectural purposes; but nothing is a sham in the house of the Lord. His doors are meant to open: they were made on purpose for entrance; and so the blessed gospel of God is made on purpose for you to enter into life and peace. It would be of no use to knock at a wall, but you may wisely knock at a door, for it is arranged for opening. You will enter in eventually if you knock on.” (1883: source)
The mere fact that God invites us to knock means there’s a door, and He wants to open it. If God has given you a door, go ahead and knock on it. It’s an invitation for God’s people to go forward in faith. James was saying the same thing in different words, inviting us to pray in faith. Maybe James is shaming us just a little, in an appropriate way, saying, “Come on now; you do not have because you do not ask. So, ask and seek God about it.”