How much more?

Think of a granpa who loves to play pranks on his grandchildren. What seems to be a piece of candy turns out to be a frightening explosion when unwrapped. What looks like a friendly handshake turns out to be an electric shock. What appears as an invitation to his favorite chair becomes an embarrassing experience with a whoopie cushion! Perhaps the occasional prank is funny, but if used repeatedly, grandchildren will learn not to trust their grandfather. They learn what kind of man he is.

Do we know what kind of God we pray to?

Is He a deceptive God who gives only tricks? Is He a hard-hearted God who gives begrudgingly? Or is He a loving God who gives more than we can ever ask? Matthew 7:7-11 answers the question: God is a Father who gives “good gifts to those who ask him” (v. 11). God is generous in giving; He also gives what is good for us.
We can look to human parents as examples. If a son is hungry, a father does not hand his boy a stone or snake (vv. 9—10), things that may appear as answers to the request but in reality are only deceptions. The point is clear: God is no prankster who delights in fooling us; rather, He is a generous Father who gives us what we need. If even sinful humans know how to provide generously for their children’s requests, how much more will our heavenly Father lavish upon us all our needs (v. 11)? Knowing, then, what kind of God we petition brings new light to the first verses of the passage: ask, seek, knock (vv. 7—8)—all ancient metaphors for prayer. If God is a generous Father, then we can take our needs to Him and ask. We can seek Him, confident that He will provide for us. Persistence in prayer on our part is done not in desperation toward a stingy or deceptive God, but in hopeful anticipation that our heavenly Father knows our needs and will generously provide the best for His children.

Truth or Consequences

Why are we sometimes "Emotional Basket Cases"? I think it's because we don't base our perceptions on reality, rather, we think about what things are going to be like, based on our own preconceptions instead of on actual facts. Frankly, that's the problem with most people who are depressed. They are locked into the error of emotional and physical bondage. Realizing, then, how important it is to be able to discern truth from error, how can we learn to tell the difference?

We might compare the problem to a banker who, knowing that there is counterfeit money circulating, wants to teach his tellers how to distinguish between the real and the phony. The method he cooses is not to focus on the counterfeits. Rather, he provides them with so much exposure to real dollar bills that when a counterfeit bill slips in, it's obvious.

Likewise, Christians have one defense against erroe. That is to become so familiar with truth, as revealed in God's Word, that when they are confronted with error, it is easily discerned. But if we are not steeped in truth, we become gullible and vulnerable to all sorts of error.

The war between truth and error has raged for thousands of years. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, they didn't commit adultery. They didn't steal or break any the other Commandments. It all began when Adam and Eve believed a lie instead of the truth. God made only one decree to Adam, that he not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Agreement with that one law meant Adam acknowledged that God and God alone determins what is right and wrong. The day Adam chose to eat of that tree, he became like God in the sense that he determined for himself right from wrong and good and evil.

From the day of the fall, man has continued to say, in essence, "I know more than You, God, about what's right and wrong. I don't need You to tell me the truth. I can discover it for myself." That's error, the ultimate error- the lie against the Truth.