Until now you have not asked anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary...
Verses 23-27... Asking of the Father shows a sense of spiritual wants, and a desire of spiritual blessings, with conviction that they are to be had from God only. Asking in Christ's name, is acknowledging our unworthiness to receive any favours from God, and shows full dependence upon Christ as the Lord our Righteousness. Our Lord had hitherto spoken in short and weighty sentences, or in parables, the import of which the disciples did not fully understand, but after his resurrection he intended plainly to teach them such things as related to the Father and the way to him, through his intercession. And the frequency with which our Lord enforces offering up petitions in his name, shows that the great end of the mediation of Christ is to impress us with a deep sense of our sinfulness, and of the merit and power of his death, whereby we have access to God. And let us ever remember, that to address the Father in the name of Christ, or to address the Son as God dwelling in human nature, and reconciling the world to himself, are the same, as the Father and Son are one.
From another source...
Jesus’ phrase “Ask and you shall receive” occurs several times in the Gospel accounts in various forms. It is a saying that has often been misinterpreted by those who do not understand the verse in its context, but rather assume that Jesus’ meaning was “Ask for anything you want and I’ll give it to you,” a basic tenet of the prosperity gospel and word of faith teaching. Sadly, the faith of many has been shipwrecked on the rocks of unanswered prayers that were prayed because of a belief in the faulty assumption that “ask and you shall receive” is a blanket promise with no conditions.
Perhaps the most famous instance of “ask and you shall receive” is found in Matthew 7:7-8 where Jesus tells His disciples during the Sermon on the Mount that whoever asks receives, whoever seeks finds, and to whomever knocks, the door will be opened. We cannot gain a full understanding of Jesus’ meaning without reading the entire passage. Jesus goes on to say that God will not fail to give His children good things. Luke 11:9-13 repeats this message, but replaces the words “good things” with “the Holy Spirit.” This means that God will give good things to His children, and the best example of a good thing is the Holy Spirit. When combined with John 14:14, where Jesus tells His disciples that whatever they ask for “in His name” will be done for them, we begin to see the two-fold purpose of prayer—to give us deeper understanding of what God calls “good” and to cultivate a desire in us for that which God calls good.
1 comment:
*GOD*/CHRIST, KNOWS what we need, thus, it is not necessary to ask for things! When we ask for greater understanding, knowledge, wisdom, to increase the fruits of our spirit, HE WILL grant such to the sincerely seeking! This verse HAS been misused, because it is misconstrued, and, again, *GOD*/CHRIST, is NOT a genie, a dream factory, the wizard of oz, or, any sort of wish granter! HE WANTS us to come to HIM with a NEED of improving ourselves, FOR, and, TO HIS GLORY; all else is worldly, point blank! WHEN we have begun to develop to HIS liking, HE has said HE will add to this, and, that is good enough for me:)))
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