WilliamZulker.com

Ask and You Shall Receive

September 16, 1956

It was Jesus who said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you.” And after saying those words, He said, “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” (John 16:24)

            The rebuke leveled at His disciples is no less emphatic in our day, than it was some nineteen hundred years ago. True it is that we have asked nothing in His name. We have resorted more to our own abilities and less to His promises. As Dr. Peter Marshall once said, “We have worked ourselves to death in trying to obtain that which is ours for the asking.”

            Beyond the rebuke, is His command, “ask.” He has sought in all generations to develop within His followers a sense of dependency-a dependency upon God who freely gives to His children whatsoever they ask in the Son’s name. John speaks of this as “the confidence that we have in Him.” (I John 5:14.) “If we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us.”

            Jesus Himself, was a man of prayer. He was a specialist in prayer. He knew what it was to be alone with God, for by prayer He related Himself to the eternal purposes of His heavenly Father. If prayer was of such great importance to the Divine Son of God, can we be satisfied with the prevalent attitude of indifference that is so characteristic of our lives today?

            Our Lord knew the joy of answered prayer, and thus He said, “Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” Have you ever realized the joy that comes from answered prayer? If you have, this realization is a further encouragement to pray. If you have not, then there awaits for you a blessing beyond all expectation.

            For all of us there is a need of more prayer. We have yet to see the fullness of the showers of blessing that will fall on God’s people when those same people fall on their knees in prayer. Bethany Temple was built on prayer. It has been sustained by prayer. This is no time to stop. Your church calls upon you to set aside the week of September 16 to 23 as a week of prayer.

            During the morning, afternoon and evening of each day, various homes of our members will be open that others may gather for an old-fashioned cottage prayer meeting. No refreshments will be served, and no program will be planned. We will gather for prayer at the stated hour, and leave when finished. Will you please join with us in this concerted effort of prayer, and seek to find at least one hour for such communion? A complete schedule of the various places of prayer will be distributed on Sunday, September 16.

            Let us make the Week of Prayer a testimony of the “power that belongs to God”; that by this same power, sinful men may be redeemed, and the saints revived.