If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven s to them that ask Him? – Matthew 7:11 (KJV)
The house was silent. Almost everyone was still asleep. I stood in the bathroom with the door ajar, watching my unsuspecting daughter tip toe to the breakfast table. She was looking for something, and when she finally saw it, lifted her hand and shouted a silent, “Yay!!”
It was the morning of her 13th birthday and, she had been waiting and hoping for an XBox One for over 9 months now. The house, well actually her brother, already had an XBox 360 but that was outdated and could not support the SIMS games, which were her new hobby for about a year now.
The XBox One that she wanted cost about 3 times what we would usually budget for birthday gifts and so her hope for an XBox One was more like wishful thinking. However, she made her desire known to me and, as the months passed by, she did her research on the XBox One. Every now and then, she would come and share her findings with me. My response was to encourage her to pray and not lose hope or faith. I would say to her, “Right now it doesn’t look possible, but you never know….”
So here we were on the morning of her birthday and she is praying on the drive to school, “Thank You Lord for giving me a good birthday.” The cost for us was a lot. It ate a hole in our pockets but, her pleasure gave us pleasure.
Later in the day, as my mind looked back at what I witnessed earlier that morning, I was struck by the difference between Grace’s choices of birthday gifts and John’s choices of birthday gifts. Over the years a pattern was developing. Grace usually asks for things that cost much simply because she desires them so much. When John is asked what he wants for his birthday or Christmas, he does not think of what he wants first, instead he thinks of us and what he thinks we can afford. Consequently, he doesn’t usually ask for much.
As I considered that, I thought of us – God’s sons and daughters. We do the same thing with God, like John does with us. We limit what we think He can “afford”; what we think He will/can do for us and so ask for and expect little. We limit our requests when it is time to let our requests be made known unto Him. We don’t ask for what our hearts really desire. For some, we don’t even dare desire or hope because we believe that we will not receive it. But do you know that God says? If we but ask, he will give us much more than this. In fact, He is the God who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us (Ephesians 3:20 NIV). He is our Father and delights in giving us good gifts.
Later, I asked Grace if she knew what was the reason she got that gift. I explained to her that it was not because of my persuasive skills. She got that gift because she earned it. You see, we had attended her required 8th Grade Individual Graduation Progress (IGP) meeting a few weeks before her birthday. Her father was so impressed by what the Guidance Counselor told him Grace had achieved academically that after the meeting he said to me, “What did Grace say she wanted for her birthday again? How much does it cost? We have to find a way! She deserves it!“
Friends, the Bible says, “When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him” – (Proverbs 16:7 – NKJV). God specializes in giving good gifts. Don’t limit what you ask Him. Make Him proud and watch Him, not find a way but MAKE THE WAY. He is waiting for you to prove to yourself that He is a Father who not only knows how to give good gifts, but actually gives good gifts every time.
Such knowledge of our access to the heart and therefore the treasury of our Father adds to our strength as warriors in this kingdom, empowering us to become even more effective in fulfilling our various assignments here on earth. Let conviction and hope arise in you today, standing in the confidence of whose you are.
Dear Lord, please restore my ability to hope. I need my hope to come alive because faith is the substance of things hoped for; the realization of whatever I hope for. Help me Father not to limit you to my limited hopes and desires. Deliver me from the mindset of settling; from the mindset of doubt. Cause me to prove to myself the Great, Omnipotent God that You are and rise in victory today. In Jesus’ name, Amen!