Ask

“Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”

John 16-:24

The 2 verses before states:

“Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. And in that day you will ask me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name He will give you.” (John 16:22, 23)

Joy, the meaning of it according to Wikipedia, “Joy may refer to Happiness, an emotion.”

He gives us the strength to endure or he takes it away. “Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” (John 6:24). That’s powerful stuff. There are so many in the world that is going through ruff times (myself included) and what we need to be doing is giving our problems to God. Who doesn’t want happiness and joy?

Prayer is a powerful tool against all our aliments. By having faith and asking to wipe our issues away he will restore us. I once was lost and now I’m found is not just a clever song. It has real meaning.

So why do we fight every step of the way? When I was 18 I had the I’m 18 and I’m an adult I’ll do what I want. Looking back that wasn’t the best attitude to have. And that’s the attitude some of us carry with God.

Stumble a : to fall into sin or waywardness b : to make an error : blunder (Merriam-Webster)

Everyone stumbles and falls. It happens all the time and its ok. We are supposed to strive to be great Christians and sometimes we will fall short. When that happens we need to pick ourselves up and dust off and keep marching on. It’s harder than I make it sound. Sometimes you feel down and helpless but there is hope and there is joy to be found and to have.

He has restored my faith my mind and my spirit.

All that I am is because of what he has given me. I will praise him for the things that I have and even the things I do not have. We are who we are because of the things that we go through. Life experiences help us to understand better others situations. We are creatures that base much of our lives on emotions. Some emotions are hard to understand and deal with. But know this…however hard it is God is there to help us through it or take it completely away. Why we go through things is not for us to know; who are we to question God? Again, know this…however hard it is God is there to help us through it or take it completely away.

There are a number of verses throughout the Bible that gives reference to this. There are many songs and poems written in reference to it as well. What about the personal stories from people about the miracles that God has worked in their lives. He defeats Satan time and again.

All we have to do is ask…Come breathe on me By Jennifer Knapp

Come trickle down and save the world 
two hands that I can't see 
come breathe, come breathe, 
come breathe on me 
split-rib water, blood and bone 
come now, come Calvary 
come breathe, come breathe on me

His answers come in Gods own time not ours. However frustrating that is we know as Christians that if we hold fast to the Lord and have faith his work will be done.

…This is what it means to be held


How it feels, when the sacred is torn from your life


And you survive


This is what it is to be loved and to know


That the promise was that when everything fell


We'd be held…

- Held by Natalie Grant

Hold Fast cause we are Held...we can find Joy in Christ!