Sermon on the Mount - Ask and you will receive

Wednesday Readings List

March 15, 2017

Sermon on the Mount – Ask and you will receive

 

Hymn 455

 

Seek ye first the kingdom of God

And His righteousness,

And all these things shall be added

unto you.

Allelu, alleluia!

 

Ask and it shall be given unto you.

Seek and ye shall find,

Knock and the door shall be opened

unto you.

Allelu, alleluia!

DESCANT

Alleluia, Alleluia,

Alleluia, Alleluia!

 

The Holy Bible

 

Luke 11: 1-13 NLT

Once Jesus was in a certain place praying. As he finished, one of his disciples came to him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” Jesus said, This is how you should pray: “Father, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come . . . . Give us each day the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation.

Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence. “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.

 

James 1:17

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

 

Matt. 15:21-28 NLT

Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Gentile woman who lived there came to him, pleading, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! For my daughter is possessed by a demon that torments her severely.” But Jesus gave her no reply, not even a word. Then his disciples urged him to send her away. “Tell her to go away,” they said. “She is bothering us with all her begging.” Then Jesus said to the woman, I was sent only to help God’s lost sheep—the people of Israel. But she came and worshiped him, pleading again, “Lord, help me!” Jesus responded, It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs. She replied, “That’s true, Lord, but even dogs are allowed to eat the scraps that fall beneath their masters’ table.” Dear woman, Jesus said to her, your faith is great. Your request is granted. And her daughter was instantly healed.

 

Mark 11:22-24 NLT

Then Jesus said to the disciples, Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours. But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.

 

James 4:3, 8 KJV

Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. . . . Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.

 

I John 3:1-3, 24, 23, 18,-19, 21-22 NLT

See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him. Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure.

Those who obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us. And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us. Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God. We can come to God with bold confidence. And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him.

 

Matt. 6:8 KJV

Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

 

Luke 18:35-43 NLT

As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind beggar was sitting beside the road. When he heard the noise of a crowd going past, he asked what was happening. They told him that Jesus the Nazarene was going by. So he began shouting, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” “Be quiet!” the people in front yelled at him. But he only shouted louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” When Jesus heard him, he stopped and ordered that the man be brought to him. As the man came near, Jesus asked him, What do you want me to do for you? “Lord,” he said, “I want to see!” And Jesus said, All right, receive your sight! Your faith has healed you. Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus, praising God. And all who saw it praised God, too.

 

Luke 12:22, 31, 32 KJV

And he said unto his disciples, . . . I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, . . . . But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

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SCIENCE & HEALTH WITH KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES, by Mary Baker Eddy

SH 442:26

Jesus said, “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” This truth is Christian Science.

 

SH 12:1-5

“The prayer of faith shall save the sick,” says the Scripture. What is this healing prayer? A mere request that God will heal the sick has no power to gain more of the divine presence than is always at hand.

 

SH 285:27-31

As mortals reach, through knowledge of Christian Science, a higher sense, they will seek to learn, not from matter, but from the divine Principle, God, how to demonstrate the Christ, Truth, as the healing and saving power.

 

SH xi:9

The physical healing of Christian Science results now, as in Jesus’ time, from the operation of divine Principle, before which sin and disease lose their reality in human consciousness and disappear as naturally and as necessarily as darkness gives place to light and sin to reformation. Now, as then, these mighty works are not supernatural, but supremely natural. They are the sign of Immanuel, or “God with us,” — a divine influence ever present in human consciousness and repeating itself, coming now as was promised aforetime, To preach deliverance to the captives [of sense], And recovering of sight to the blind, To set at liberty them that are bruised.

 

SH 128:2 Good

Good is natural and primitive. It is not miraculous to itself.

 

SH 591:21

Miracle. That which is divinely natural, but must be learned humanly; a phenomenon of Science.

 

SH 131:26-29

The mission of Jesus confirmed prophecy, and explained the so-called miracles of olden time as natural demonstrations of the divine power, demonstrations which were not understood.

 

SH x:22-27

The divine Principle of healing is proved in the personal experience of any sincere seeker of Truth. Its purpose is good, and its practice is safer and more potent than that of any other sanitary method. The unbiased Christian thought is soonest touched by Truth, and convinced of it.

 

SH 130:26-3

If thought is startled at the strong claim of Science for the supremacy of God, or Truth, and doubts the supremacy of good, ought we not, contrariwise, to be astounded at the vigorous claims of evil and doubt them, and no longer think it natural to love sin and unnatural to forsake it, — no longer imagine evil to be ever-present and good absent? Truth should not seem so surprising and unnatural as error, and error should not seem so real as truth. Sickness should not seem so real as health.

 

SH 420:10

Instruct the sick that they are not helpless victims, for if they will only accept Truth, they can resist disease and ward it off, as positively as they can the temptation to sin. . . .The fact that Truth overcomes both disease and sin reassures depressed hope. It imparts a healthy stimulus to the body, and regulates the system. It increases or diminishes the action, as the case may require, better than any drug, alterative, or tonic.

 

SH 677:22-24 (np) FRUITAGE

For a number of years . . . I suffered with dyspepsia, congestion of the liver, and many other things, including weak eyesight. Feeling that this was God’s will, I did not ask to be healed, although I was constantly doctoring. With all the medicine, . . . I never regained health, . . . . One day, while lying on my couch exhausted, which had become a frequent experience, the words came to me, “Whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” I rose, knelt down and said, O God, make me well. I was telling a friend this and she kindly gave me a Sentinel. Imagine my joy when I saw the testimonies of healing! . . . I obtained a copy of Science and Health and before a week had passed I realized that if God was my all, I needed no glasses. My eyes were healed in a few days, and since then I have never thought of glasses. I was also cured of dyspepsia, and nothing that I have eaten has hurt me since then. The belief in health laws was next destroyed, by knowing that our heavenly Father did not make them, and from this has come the beautiful experience of the overcoming of fatigue. For this alone I can never be thankful enough.  — A. L., Chelmsford, England.

 

SH 667:19-669:23

Sorrow after sorrow followed each other in rapid succession; for ten long years there was no rest, until finally the one thing that had stood by me all through the trials, namely, my health, gave way, and with that went my last hope. But the last hour of the night had come, the dawn of day was at hand; a dear friend left Science and Health upon my piano one day, saying that I would gain much good by reading it. I had read only a short time when such a wonderful transformation took place! I was renewed; born again. . . and since that glorious day I have been a well woman. There have been some mighty struggles with error, and I have learned that we cannot reach heaven with one long stride or easily drift inside the gate, but that the “asking” and the “seeking” and the “knocking” must be earnest and persistent.  — C. B. G., Hudson, Mass.

 

SH 10:14-15

Seeking is not sufficient. It is striving that enables us to enter.

 

SH 15:20-22

We must “pray without ceasing.” Such prayer is answered, in so far as we put our desires into practice.

 

SH 4:12-13

The habitual struggle to be always good is unceasing prayer.

 

SH 10:22-31

Experience teaches us that we do not always receive the blessings we ask for in prayer. There is some misapprehension of the source and means of all goodness and blessedness, or we should certainly receive that for which we ask. The Scriptures say: “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” That which we desire and for which we ask, it is not always best for us to receive. In this case infinite Love will not grant the request.

 

SH 322:26

The sharp experiences of belief in the supposititious life of matter, as well as our disappointments and ceaseless woes, turn us like tired children to the arms of divine Love. Then we begin to learn Life in divine Science. Without this process of weaning, “Canst thou by searching find out God?” It is easier to desire Truth than to rid one’s self of error. Mortals may seek the understanding of Christian Science, but they will not be able to glean from Christian Science the facts of being without striving for them. This strife consists in the endeavor to forsake error of every kind and to possess no other consciousness but good.

 

SH 4:3-5, 17-22

What we most need is the prayer of fervent desire for growth in grace, expressed in patience, meekness, love, and good deeds. Simply asking that we may love God will never make us love Him; but the longing to be better and holier, expressed in daily watchfulness and in striving to assimilate more of the divine character, will mould and fashion us anew, until we awake in His likeness.

 

SH 142:7

We must seek the undivided garment, the whole Christ, as our first proof of Christianity, for Christ, Truth, alone can furnish us with absolute evidence.

 

SH xii:23

In the spirit of Christ’s charity, — as one who “hopeth all things, endureth all things,” and is joyful to bear consolation to the sorrowing and healing to the sick, — she commits these pages to honest seekers for Truth.

 

SH 390:32-2; 391:4

Rise in the conscious strength of the spirit of Truth to overthrow the plea of mortal mind, alias matter, arrayed against the supremacy of Spirit. Then, when thou art delivered to the judgment of Truth, Christ, the judge will say, “Thou art whole!”

 

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Hymn 390

 

Why is thy faith in God’s great love so small?

Why doth thy heart shrink back at duty’s call?

Art thou obeying this: Abide in me;

And doth the Master’s word abide in thee?

 

O blest assurance from our risen Lord;

O precious comfort breathing from the Word.

How great the promise, could there greater be?

Ask what thou wilt, it shall be done for thee.

 

Ask what thou wilt, but O, remember this,

We ask and have not when we ask amiss.

If weak in faith, we only half believe

That what we ask we really shall receive.

 

Hymn 374

 

We thank Thee and we bless Thee,

O Father of us all,

That e’en before we ask Thee

Thou hear’st Thy children’s call.

We praise Thee for Thy goodness

And tender, constant care,

We thank Thee, Father-Mother,

That Thou hast heard our prayer.

 

We thank Thee and we bless Thee,

O Lord of all above,

That now Thy children know Thee

As everlasting Love.

And Love is not the author

Of discord, pain and fear;

O Love divine, we thank Thee

That good alone is here.

 

We thank Thee, Father-Mother,

For blessings, light and grace

Which bid mankind to waken

And see Thee face to face.

We thank Thee, when in anguish

We turn from sense to Soul,

That we may hear Thee calling:

Rejoice, for thou art whole.

 

 

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