Greetings and a blessed 2022 filled with His joy, good health with peace and contentment. It seems proper and fit to start the year revealing and correcting our notions of praying to and receiving from God. Take a closer look at this conversation between the Lord and His disciples:

And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. John 16:23-27

By way of context, the disciples were sorrowful; the thought that the one they had looked upon to deliver the kingdom from the Roman oppression, who had demonstrated such extraordinary powers to meet basic needs of the people, theirs included, was leaving shattered them – Luke 24:21a; John 6:15. For a season their joy appeared truncated:

• their hopes of participating in a structure of their imagination dashed – Mark 10:35-45; and
• the privilege of their being called to serve was misdirected to serve their own purpose, not God’s!

 
What a compassionate God we have for our Father! He did not retort to them in sharp rebuke, rather in kind words assuring them they would see Him again, but certainly not for their imagined desire, for the time was not come – Matthew 24:3; Acts 1:6.

Beloved, as you carefully ponder this word picture, look back and see if you have fallen into the same situation as these disciples. Have you misread God’s purpose for the calling upon your life? Have you turned your sure calling to self-serving ends?  This is the time to make the changes. Seek the Lord in repentance and return to His appointed purpose. Selah.