Ask God for What You Need^(A)

⁷ “Continue to ask, and God will give to you. Continue to search, and you will find. Continue to knock, and the door will open for you. ⁸ Yes, whoever continues to ask will receive. Whoever continues to look will find. And whoever continues to knock will have the door opened for them.

⁹ “Do any of you have a son? If he asked for bread, would you give him a rock? ¹⁰ Or if he asked for a fish, would you give him a snake? Of course not! ¹¹ You people are so bad, but you still know how to give good things to your children. So surely your heavenly Father will give good things to those who ask him.

A Very Important Rule

¹² “Do for others what you would want them to do for you. This is the meaning of the Law of Moses and the teaching of the prophets.

⁹ So I tell you, continue to ask, and God will give to you. Continue to search, and you will find. Continue to knock, and the door will open for you. ¹⁰ Yes, whoever continues to ask will receive. Whoever continues to look will find. And whoever continues to knock will have the door opened for them. ¹¹ Do any of you have a son? What would you do if your son asked you for a fish? Would any father give him a snake? ¹² Or, if he asked for an egg, would you give him a scorpion? Of course not! ¹³ Even you who are bad know how to give good things to your children. So surely your heavenly Father knows how to give the Holy Spirit to the people who ask him.”

^[a] A song of David.

Jesus Shows the Power of Faith^(A)

¹⁸ Early the next morning, Jesus was going back to the city. He was very hungry. ¹⁹ He saw a fig tree beside the road and went to get a fig from it. But there were no figs on the tree. There were only leaves. So Jesus said to the tree, “You will never again produce fruit!” The tree immediately dried up and died.

²⁰ When the followers saw this, they were very surprised. They asked, “How did the fig tree dry up and die so quickly?”

²¹ Jesus answered, “The truth is, if you have faith and no doubts, you will be able to do the same as I did to this tree. And you will be able to do more. You will be able to say to this mountain, ‘Go, mountain, fall into the sea.’ And if you have faith, it will happen. ²² If you believe, you will get anything you ask for in prayer.”

Jesus Shows the Power of Faith^(A)

²⁰ The next morning Jesus was walking with his followers. They saw the fig tree that he spoke to the day before. The tree was dry and dead, even the roots. ²¹ Peter remembered the tree and said to Jesus, “Teacher, look! Yesterday, you told that fig tree to die. Now it is dry and dead!”

²² Jesus answered, “Have faith in God. ²³ The truth is, you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, mountain, fall into the sea.’ And if you have no doubts in your mind and believe that what you say will happen, then God will do it for you. ²⁴ So I tell you to ask for what you want in prayer. And if you believe that you have received those things, then they will be yours. ²⁵ When you are praying and you remember that you are angry with another person about something, forgive that person. Forgive them so that your Father in heaven will also forgive your sins.” ^26 [a]

¹² “I can assure you that whoever believes in me will do the same things I have done. And they will do even greater things than I have done, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ And if you ask for anything in my name, I will do it for you. Then the Father’s glory will be shown through the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask me for anything in my name, I will do it.