Asking

One of the subtle dangers believers face is assumption claiming spiritual realities that our lives do not yet reflect. We confess what we believe we have in Christ, yet often there is no visible expression of those truths in our daily experience.

Is confession wrong? No.

Confession is powerful, but it must flow from revelation, not assumption. Interestingly, when Jesus taught His disciples how to pray, He did not teach them how to confess. He taught them how to “ask”.

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

Matthew 7:7 (KJV)

Give us this day our daily bread.

Matthew 6:11 (KJV)

God does not call us to presume.
He calls us to ask, seek, and knock.
And with every command, He attaches a promise of response.

This means that before confession we must ask through prayer, and before declaration comes revelation. We must first make our requests known to God.

We make assumptions with God, when HE has instead called us to ask Him, seek Him and knock. He promises us responses. This means before confession, we must ask through prayer and make our requests known to Him.

The Principle of Asking

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

James 1:5

The “if” in this verse is a conditional clause, meaning “in the event that” you lack something. The emphasis here is on wisdom, but the principle applies to anything we lack.

Not that it says ask God, not make the assumption that you have it. Yes, Christ has made all things available to us, but availability does not cancel the need for asking. In fact, it is because provision exists that asking is possible.

James also reveals the nature of the One we are asking:

He gives everyone liberally, He gives generously, He gives without reproach and He gives without fault-finding.

The NLT says, He will gladly tell you.

In essence,

~ What God tells us becomes what we confess.

~ What God reveals becomes what we declare.

Conditions for Receiving

James teaches clearly that not every asking produces receiving:

But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

James 1:6-8 (NKJV)

You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

James 4:3 (NKJV)

From these scriptures, we see two cardinal principles for receiving:

1. Ask in Faith Without Doubt: Faith is not emotional confidence, it is spiritual certainty anchored in God’s character and word.

2. Ask With Right Motives: If our motive is wrong about the subject we are praying about even though we are asking we won’t get the right answer. This is why Jesus taught us to pray: “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

True prayer is not about bending God’s will to ours; it is about aligning our will with His. Asking must be accompanied by surrender.

Child of God, don’t hesitate to ask. Don’t assume or pressure. Ask in faith with humility and alignment. God will reveal His will to you.

This is how we spiritual intelligence is formed and our discernment is sharpened.This is how confession gains power — because it flows from revelation.