You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
This is taken out of context most of the time. People want God to be their errand boy. We pray for God to bring us paychecks while we sit on the couch and watch soap operas. Then we blame God for our poverty because we prayed and he didn’t come through for us.
We do stupid things and then ask God to get us out of trouble. Often we use the phrase, “And I’ll even start going to church from now on if you do this for me.” Bargaining with God is not what Jesus had in mind when he said we could ask him for anything.
He was speaking to his disciples when he said they could ask him for anything. He knew they were imperfect. He knew they’d made plenty of mistakes and were sure to make more. But he also knew where their hearts were. They had been following him, learning from him, obeying him. They were sacrificing their way of doing things for his way of doing things. These men had a relationship with Jesus. That was the basis of his claim that they could ask him for anything.
So, can we, like his disciples, ask him for anything?
Sure. As long as we have a relationship with Jesus, learn from Jesus, obey his commands, and sacrifice our ways of doing things for his ways of doing things. Then certainly, ask away.
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