I often think we spend a lot of time making God out to be more complicated than He really is. I know that because as a sometime academic myself, I have spent a lot of time in the past doing just that!

Countless erudite tomes over the centuries have been written to presumably help us understand what God is saying to us in His Word, the Bible. And yet surely the only reason God would give us a Bible is to communicate with us, His people.

And if he wants to communicate with us, why would he make it difficult, abstruse and unfathomable? As a working journalist, I was always taught that if we want to have our words understood by ordinary people, then we should write simply in the words that ordinary people use.

In the original languages, bereft of the ringing cadences of the King James Version, the Bible is just that—simple and straightforward in its language, although undoubtedly rich in profound spiritual significance and symbolism. And to help us there, God has given us the Holy Spirit to be our guide and to open our eyes, that we may see "wondrous things" from His Word (Ps. 119:18).

A Giving God

One of the areas that I think has been intellectualized and complicated unnecessarily is in asking God for what we want.

As a basic point, let's at least agree that God wants to give to us. He is a giving God—that is his very nature. He gave Jesus His "only begotten Son" to us, at a cost we cannot even begin to understand, so that we can be saved from our sins and enjoy eternal life (John 3:16).

So when Jesus says in Matthew 7:7, "ASK and it will be given to you," why do we have to go and debate endlessly what He really means? I have heard more discussion and conjecture on that point—on how, when, where and why God will give us what we ask for—than on almost anything else in Scripture.

It is understandable of course, in the dog-eat-dog, look-out-for-Numero-Uno world we live in, that people find such a simple promise almost too good to be true. But God is, ultimately, always both clear and consistent in His Word.

So if Jesus says that we will receive what we ask for, then He means it.

Meeting The Necessary Requirements

However, with God, His promises are always conditional. He is a merciful God and a generous God, but He is also a holy God and a God of judgment. There is always a balance.

So when we ask God for something, we must understand that there are conditions; simple conditions, but conditions nonetheless.

Consistently in His Word, God tells us that if we are to receive what we ask for, we must fulfill three conditions:

Jesus, in John 15:7, encapsulates all three of the above conditions when He says that if we "remain in Him" and follow His teachings, "you can ask anything you want and it will be given to you." If we remain in Him, and keep His teachings always in our heart, then whenever we ask Him for anything it will always be in His name, in faith and according to His will.

It is not complicated and it is not difficult. So even when God invites us to ask for something so big that it seems impossible, as long as He has implanted the desire and we ask in faith, He will do it. In Psalm 2:8, He says: "If you ask Me, I will give you the nations." Too big? Not for God working through a trusting and obedient heart.

If we "delight" ourselves in Him, He will give us the desires of our heart (Ps. 37:4). That means if we are "enraptured" and "captivated" by Him, if our whole being is consumed and engrossed by Him, then He promises to give us what we ask for, the "desires of our heart."

Christian business and professional people, in particular, often find it just too much to believe that God will simply give us what we ask for if we trust Him and ask according to His will, in His name. We are always looking for the conditions, the "catch."

God always says what He means and means what He says. The conditions are upfront and unambiguous. He is always consistent and clear.

"For all the promises of God are in Him. Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us" (2 Cor. 1:20).

Yes and Amen.

That is God's response every time to whatever you ask, when you abide in Him and His Words and promises abide in you (John 15:7).