Believe and Receive
Let’s suppose you were a parent with five children. One of your sons came up and asked if you would take the family to the mall. You reply, “Sure. We’ll go there this afternoon.” A minute later, your other son who overheard his brother asks if you would take the family to the mall. You reply, “I already told your brother I’d do that.” Seconds later, one of your daughters who was within earshot of her brothers approached you and asked about going to the mall. What would your answer be? By this time you might be a little annoyed but if you were a good parent, you would still say “yes.” Within the next couple of minutes, your two other daughters ask the very same thing. You reply in frustration, “Didn’t you kids believe me when I said ‘yes’ the first time?” This scenario sounds ridiculous, but this is how many people approach God in prayer. There was one prayer group I briefly attended where this sort of thing happened all the time. After discussing our prayer requests, we each too...
