Do not let human traditions complicate what Jesus taught. When Jesus said, “Ask, and you shall receive,” he was not offering advice. It was a command just as much as a promise. When we believe in Jesus as our Savior, he gives us the same access to the Father that he has. The way to the throne of grace is open. We are in Christ, so we come before the Father boldly.

Ask as a child asks his father, because God is your Father. If he feeds the birds and clothes the grass, how much more will he provide for you? If earthly fathers know how to give good gifts, how much more will your heavenly Father give to those who ask him? God is loving and generous, giving good gifts to his children. 

This is not wishful thinking. This is what Jesus taught. He commanded us to pray with confidence. And he never attached disclaimers like faithless teachers do. God wants us to ask from him in every circumstance. Ask, and you shall receive. That is how we put faith into action. 

To love God is to do what he says, abandoning false humility. To honor him as the one who rules all things is to cast your cares on him and go to him with every request. This kind of spiritual initiative is obedience rather than presumption. 

As God’s children, we glorify him when we walk in his goodness and abundance. He is pleased when we are strong and victorious, and living in the miraculous through faith. Every Christian is born of a miracle, and the miraculous life is natural for the child of God.