Revised: Nov 23, 2023
We delve into the concept of asking and receiving, emphasizing the idea that individuals have the ability to communicate with God and receive answers to their questions or desires. It rejects the notion that God only communicates with select individuals, asserting that God communicates with everyone and all the time through various forms.
I can ask, and I can receive. I have asked, and I have received. I continue to ask, and I continue to receive. While I haven’t perfected this process for myself, I’ve incorporated it into my life more diligently than before.
You, too, can ask and receive, but not everyone believes in this truth. Your belief in this concept aligns with how you feel about it.
Contrary to the notion that God communicates exclusively with a select few, God asserts that the question is not to whom He talks but who listens to Him. God’s communication is pervasive and continuous, primarily expressed through various forms:
- Feelings: Your inner compass that helps you discern what resonates as true.
- Thoughts: Mental messages that may include images, making them effective for communication.
- Experiences: Your life’s grand storyteller, relaying messages through your encounters.
- Words: A less common form of communication, often misunderstood and open to misinterpretation.
Communications with an emphasis on feelings and experiences as more authentic forms of communication. People often place more value on words from others than on their personal experiences, which may be messages from God.
The supreme irony is that we place very little value on an experience we receive from God but place much value on words we’ve heard from others. We simple discard the experience and hang on to the words instead. We should be discarding the words and hang on to the experience.
This plan encourages individuals to actively listen and be open to receiving messages from God, even when they seem unconventional or counterintuitive. Once heard, these messages cannot be easily ignored. Even this book serves as a form of God’s communication with you. Great is the power of free will and the ability to choose whether or not to communicate with God.
You will not miss God’s messages if you truly listen. Once you hear his messages you can no longer ignore them. In the past you prayed to God, talked to God, pleaded with God and implored God. Even here in this plan God is communicating with you.
God also says:
- All people are special.
- There is no person more special than another.
- All moments are golden.
- There is no time more special than another.
Many individuals prefer to listen to interpretations of what others claim to have heard from God rather than directly receiving and interpreting divine messages. For many people listening to what someone else thinks they heard God say they do not have to think at all. They would rather allow someone else to interpret the message even if that interpretation is wrong.
Some people are willing to actually listen to God. That is the only reason they hear more from God than others. They are open to the communication even when it seems scary, or crazy or even wrong. Especially when something seems wrong, listen to God for answers.
Relying solely on what you know has been the human way throughout history, but reflecting on the consequences of this approach in the world reveals its limitations. Observe where that has taken mankind. Transitioning from knowledge-based living to one centered on feelings and experiences holds the potential for transformative growth. This transition entails suspending preconceived notions, much like how great scientists abandon their assumptions to start anew. You can do it if you have a willingness and ability to not be right.
If you know you can communicate with God, you are listening to your soul. If you think you can’t communicate with God, you are listening to your mind. The soul is truth, and yet you can choose to believe your mind.
We know God is love, joy, harmony, unity, oneness, peace and so very much more. Do you think God would create a thing as advanced and wondrously magnificent as the human body and then not give it a way to communicate with God? God communicates with everything. Everything! Most everything else listens. We listened too, just not to the degree that we could.
You are responsible, or response-able, for communicating directly with God. In other words, you are able to provide response in communications with God. This is not something you are forced to do. You have been given free will and you can choose.
Ask and you shall receive has worked for me in various ways, and you are encouraged to explore its potential in your life. By posing questions to God for which you seek answers, you engage in this process. God’s presence, residing within you at the cellular level, makes no inquiry too subtle or insignificant.
You can ask by asking a question out loud. You can ask by simply thinking a question. You can ask in whatever way you want, and God will be listening. God can hear you no matter how you ask because, as you know, God is in you at the cellular level. Asking is the easy part.
Every human on earth is also receiving answers, all the time. The pivotal question revolves around your readiness to receive an answer. Are you genuinely listening and open to the prospect of God communicating with you? Do you believe in the likelihood of such communication? When you receive answers seemingly “out of the blue,” do you doubt their origin or doubt the process itself? Perhaps you are already engaging in conversations with God without recognizing them as such.
Is it conceivable that anyone can have a direct conversation with God? If one individual can, why not others? Everyone holds the potential for dialogue with God. Reflect on the writings of Neale Donald Walsch in his series “Conversations With God,” illustrating how a regular person can converse with the divine.
I hope each and every one of you questions what is said here and draw your own conclusions. If it feels right for you, then you know. If it does not feel right for you, then you also know. Either way it is your feeling that you are receiving from your soul, letting you know if you are on the right path or not. My path is not for you. Your path is not for me. We are all to experience our own path.
You are asking when you:
- Give attention to something you desire.
- Give attention to something you do not desire.
- Try to figure something out.
Jesus of Nazareth spoke often of ‘ask and you shall receive’. He did not say, “Hey Joe, you can ask and you shall receive”. “And you Judy, you can also ask and you shall receive.” Jesus simply said, “Ask and you shall receive.” It was not a gift to some and not to others. It is simply a gift to all. God did not create two classes of people and give one this power and the other not. God also does not judge people and decide which ones to give this opportunity to. The statement is clear, “Ask and you shall receive.”
Prayer is talking. Religions promote it. Talking is not a threat to religions. Meditation is listening. Religions do not promote it. Listening is a threat to religions. Religions want you to listen to them as the source of your information and they fear your listening to God as your source of information will expose their deception. Prayer is consciously ‘sending’ energy and meditation is consciously ‘receiving’ energy. Ask and you shall receive, is sending and receiving energy.
Sometimes, prayers appear unanswered due to controlling thoughts lurking beneath your conscious requests. These thoughts, often related to doubts or feelings of unworthiness, overpower your stated desires. Identifying and countering these hidden thoughts can reassert control over your prayers.
Here is an example of what may be happening with an unanswered prayer. Let’s say you are praying to find your ideal job. The job you want is at a company you’d like to work for, doing what you’d love to do and comes with a generous salary. This is your thought as you pray. It is however not your controlling thought. The controlling thought, or thought behind the thought, is that you won’t get that job because you aren’t good enough, you’re always passed over, and this kind of thing always happens to you. Your thoughts about not being worthy are stronger than your thoughts about receiving the job. Control your thoughts behind the thought and you’ll control your prayers.
Start by writing down your prayers, creating a list of your requests. Once you’ve cataloged your desires, read them aloud and contemplate the thoughts underlying each prayer. Often, you will uncover thoughts that have been thwarting your prayers. Challenge these counterproductive thoughts by consciously thinking their opposite and witness the transformation of your prayer outcomes.
You’ll uncover every thought behind every thought you’re having as you are praying. Now that you know those thoughts behind the thoughts you can get rid of them. Do that by thinking the opposite of what you’ve written down. Your prayers will be answered. Do this every time you pray.
Every thought is, in essence, a form of asking. To evolve, you must embrace the practice of listening. It involves allowing God to answer on His terms, an alignment with your soul.
The biblical directive encourages listening to the word of the Lord. It does not specify listening exclusively to written or interpreted texts. God’s word can manifest in various forms—a song, a billboard, a newspaper article, or a TV show. God communicates in diverse ways, awaiting your receptivity.
God speaks to you in many ways. Listen because God speaks to you. Be the cause of God speaking to you.
Ultimately, your path is uniquely your own. You should question and ponder the concepts presented here and arrive at your personal conclusions. Let your feelings guide you. If these ideas resonate with you, you will know you are on the right path. Conversely, if they do not, your feelings will inform you accordingly. Your individual journey is distinct, and your unique path must be experienced and embraced.
A closing thought, yet of immense significance. When you ask, be in gratitude that you can ask and that an answer is on its way. When you receive an answer, be in gratitude for receiving it. Thank God and smile as you are making God smile too. Notice the feeling and be in gratitude for it as well.