The Lord says, "Ask, and it shall be given unto you." (Matthew 7:7)
Already the Lord has given men everything; for: "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)
And: "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32)
Christ is heaven's greatest gift; and the giving of Him is proof that "all things" have been freely given. Therefore we do not need to importune God to bestow upon us good gifts, but only to express our belief that He has given them, and our gratitude to Him that it is so. This is the prayer of faith.
The fact that people often ask God for things which they do not get, is no evidence that God has not given us liberally as His word has said. God gives men only good things, and He alone knows the needs of the soul. While we pray, "The Spirit also helps our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. [The Spirit] makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God." (Romans 8:26-27)
Prayer must not be offered according to the will of man, without reference to God's will; and then whatever God sends in answer must be taken as being in harmony with His will, even though it may seem at first quite otherwise. "All things work together for good to them that love God." (Romans 8:28)
In this way we can believe that we receive the things we ask, as we are told to do "Therefore I say unto you, What things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them." (Mark 11:24), although we may not recognize them in the shapes God's hand has given them for our good.
The devil tries to get people to stop at the mere asking for needed blessings. But an essential step in the process of realization consists in grasping them. And this must be done by faith. Faith is that by which we lay hold upon the object sought.
If we ask and then wait for God to make it apparent to our natural senses that we have the blessing, before believing that it is ours, we are very likely to lose it altogether. This is one of Satan's most successful cheats. Faith says, "Believe that you receive them." (Mark 11:24)
And if we will do so, we can be as thankful to God as though they had appeared in the form we would have given them ourselves.
It must not be forgotten that the attitude of the receiver toward God must be one of praise. God can work marvelously for the person who will give Him the glory. But He cannot work for the one who would take the glory to himself.--Present Truth, April 4, 1895.