1.  Expect to Receive

2 Pe 1:3-11 tells us of God’s plan for us through Jesus that we may be “richly provided for an entrance into the eternal kingdom of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”

This includes:
“3   According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
4   Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

The promises of God are there as a means of escaping from the corruption of this world.  But in order to receive it we need to know.

Know how god acts.  That is found only in the Word of God.

Isa 5:13  Therefore my people will go into exile for lack of understanding; their men of rank will die of hunger and their masses will be parched with thirst.

Hosea 4:6  my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. "Because you have rejected knowledge,  ...

So it is important to know that we can receive these promises by asking.

Prov 16:1  To man belong the plans of the heart, but from the LORD comes the reply of the tongue.

Desiring to receive must be there.  But that does not bring it to pass because Lord answers to the tongue i.e. only to the expressed desires.  In other words you won’t receive unless you ask.  We have discussed why God wants us to ask earlier.  It is not because he is a reluctant giver, it is not because he is not a loving father, but because he expects his children to grow up into responsibility.  He wants mature children.  A baby does not ask.  Only the children and the adults ask.  To the babies everything is given without asking, but what is necessary for growing up.  But for the grown up he expect us to ask.  You should know what you are at.  But you would not receive what you are unable to handle.  O! Our Dad knows what you and I can handle he will give only what you can and he will not if he thinks you cannot handle.

In Deuteronomy 26:12-15 we have seen that God demands that man ask his blessings when it is due, based on the promises of God.  This is true of all blessings.
So James retorts:(James 4:2-3)

“You do not have, because you do not ask God.” No farmer sits quiet after sowing his precious seeds.  He expects to reap and waits for the harvest.  It is his right.

2.  There is a Season

But you don’t get the fruit the next day of sowing.  There is a season to sow and a season to reap.  No farmer will expect wheat harvest the next day or even the next week.  No farmer will get  impatient over the delay because he knows that in due season the fruit will appear.

Gal 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. If you  lose heart and impatiently pull out the peanuts which you have planted a month ago, you will only discover that even the seed you have planted  has disappeared and you only have destroyed the plant.  If on the other hand  if we wait patiently continually nursing the plant and adding the necessary water and fertilizer it will eventually yield fruit.
Mark 4:26  He also said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground.
Mark 4:27  Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.
Mark 4:28  All by itself the soil produces grain--first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head.
Mark 4:29  As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come."

If you look at the soil where you sowed your seed you will not see any peanut or tomato or mango or peaches or oranges.  It is God who gives each seed a body and the increase.  The rewarder is God, not the receiver of your donation or love or compassion.
Eccl 11:5  As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother's womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.
Therefore

Eccl 11:6  Sow your seed in the morning,.....

How, where and when he provide the rewards is God’s  business.  Your act provides a chain reaction which ultimately ripens into the fruit. God promises to provide abundance for our every need

Phil 4:19  And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Notice that the supply is not according to our need, but according to His riches in glory.  What is God’s riches in glory?  John only had a glimpse of the New Jerusalem and his description is mind boggling. So there is no need to worry.  Our father in heaven  has infinite resources and he is going to provide us according to that.  Its reception is limited only by
-- my ability to conceive my need
-- my ability and daring to ask
-- and my ability to receive.

3.  Ask Anything

Jesus said, John 14:13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. John 14:14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. What a promise.
Notice the unlimited credit facility offered by the son.
John 16:23  In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.
John 16:24  Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

Again unlimited, this time offered by the father for he loves us.

The reason for giving is also clearly stated:
-- father may be glorified
-- your joy may be full.
These two are complementary.  The joy of the children bring glory to the Father.

Mat 6:7  And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.
Mat 6:8  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Mat 6:9  "This, then, is how you should pray: "'Our Father in heaven,

The Lord’s prayer incidentally also points to one of the major hindrances in praying.  Unforgiveness which is lack of love stops the flow of blessings.

Mark 11:24  Therefore I tell you,  whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Mark 11:25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone,  forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."

Forgiveness in this passage is the prescription for receiving what you ask for.
First we should believe that we will receive it if we ask for something.

Mat 21:22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." James 1:6 -8  But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord;  he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
No doubt most people believe that God can give what God wants to.  But do not believe that god will give if we ask him.  It is simply that they have no intimate relation with God to dare ask things from God.  When they ask, they are not sure whether God will give it to them.  It is of these people James qualifies as a double minded person.  They are unstable in their faith, unstable in their thinking about what they really want.  God cannot answer such prayers.

If we really believe that we have received what we have asked for the following deductions are true.
1.  We should not repeat the same request day after day.  He has given it to you at the first request.  However Jesus demanded that we keep praying constantly.
This however is an unsolved problem.  Jesus indicated that we should continue to ask till received.  There is a point here.  If God wants you to ask, he wants to instill your dependence on Him by seeing that you continuously ask.  This is a father’s desire and his joy.  So we have these parables:
Luke 18:1  Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.
Luke 18:2  He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men.
Luke 18:3  And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.'
Luke 18:4  "For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men,
Luke 18:5  yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!'"
Luke 18:6  And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says.
Luke 18:7  And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?

The last verse indicates that God will bring it to pass soon and not  later.  However persistence in prayer is envisaged clearly.

1 John 5:14 -15 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.   And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of him.

Here we have the condition that  what we ask should be according to his will.    This will is found in the Bible. This is where our ability and maturity comes in.  It is his will that you be perfect in all things.  For this He will abundantly provide.  He will therefore not give whatever is detrimental to our growth and maturity.  The emphasis is that
“It is God’s will that you prosper in all things and in good health”

The question we should be asking is
*  Is it prospering to me as a person - in my body, in my mind and in my spirit?
**  Is it healthy?
There are strong opinions in the Christian world which considers asking anything is wrong.  Won’t God give if it is necessary without asking.  May be he will if you are an invalid incapable of responding.  God knows that every man needs salvation.  Otherwise they are condemning themselves.  Hence won’t a kind and loving god give redemption to all poor sinful, spiritually dead men?  That is not what the Bible teaches. God respects man to the extent that he will not force anything on man.
There are people who prays for blessings with the qualifying words, “If it is thy will.”  Here again there are no Biblical basis for such a phrase.  The teachings of Jesus were specific and direct:  Ask, Ask anything.  We do not receive because we do not persevere.  You will notice that these are mostly people who do not really believe that prayer directly result in answers.  These are people who do not believe in miracles - at least who do not believe that God still work miracles.  To them these are all apostolic era facts and not valid now.  No wonder they do not receive.

2.  Your faith should show forth in your actions that follow your request.  This is expressed in thanksgiving.  Thank God for the gift.

3.  It should go into your outward expression as well.  Since you have already received it when you have asked at least you should do what is lawful - tithe for it.  This is an intense expression of faith.

4.  Prayer of Agreement

Be specific in your requests.
God cannot answer a blanket request.  If you are not sure of what you really want, how can God give it to you.   Further  our God is a jealous God, who will not give his glory to anyone else.  If you can ascribe it to chance  God does not get his glory.

Mat 18:19
 "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.

When you decide to ask anything that  your heart desire, get someone - another believer to agree with you.  Here is the importance of family.  If you are married you have a definite advantage here.  Nevertheless there should be perfect agreement in the matter between the two.  Let there be no division among you.  Be of one mind.  If two of you pray for the same  thing with different specifications, what can the supplier do but to wait for a definite double signed order?

So Peter urges us as follows:
1 Pet 3:7  Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.

Put down your requests in black and white and let the whole family or believing brother or sister sign them.  God will keep his part of the promise if he is still alive.  “You will receive” (Mat 21:22)

Even if the reply is belated it will be coming.

Heb 6:12 We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised. If you have learned to give, learn also to  receive.  To give may boost your ego, but to receive is humiliating.  Hence many have not learned to receive gracefully.  Kingdom of  God is giving and    receiving that our life may be made perfect.  It is a loving giving, mutually edifying mutually supporting  system.

5.  Build on the Rock

At the end of his discourse on the principles of Kingdom living Jesus told a parable.
Mat 7:24  "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
Mat 7:25  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.
Building a house on the rock is a slow process (especially in the times of Jesus, when there were no explosives or vibrators)  But that is how you build on a rock foundation.  That is how faith comes.  You cannot become a 4000 acre farmer overnight.  You start off on a small patch first.  As you grow in confidence you enlarge your field.  But you need to start sowing.  If you can trust God with only one dollar , do start there.  And when the blessings flow in you will be surprised.

Let us be doers of the word and not hearers only.

I have heard good Christians - good church going Christians with sound theological background say that the Sermon on the Mount is impractical - at least in the modern age.  It may be contrary to the natural mind.  It is may be contrary to the human logic.  But this is the only natural law for the Kingdom of God.  It is given to a sinful world for the Christians to live by.  Its basis is the basis of the principles of the Kingdom to come.

Luke 12:32  "Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.

Eph 3:20-21   Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,  to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.