Luke 11:9-10 says, "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." Even when Hebrews 6:18 tells us that it is impossible for God to lie, we have all experienced what it's like to ask and then not receive.

But should we let our experience tell us what's true and what we're supposed to believe? Or should we look to the Bible to teach us the truth?

As powerful as our experiences and the beliefs they helped us form may be, the truth of God's word is even stronger. But in order to take what the Bible says and make it a belief, something that has been repeated and become firmly lodged in our minds, we have to make a conscious effort to meditate on and obey His word.

Joshua 1:8 says, "Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful."

The word "meditate" means to mumble or mutter. It means that we need to speak God's word out loud to ourselves. D. Martyn Lloyd Jones, in his book "Spiritual Depression" asks us, "Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself?"

We can either let our past experiences tell us what we should believe, or we can decide to change our beliefs. The way to do that is to continually talk to ourselves about the promises of God. When we pray we should remind ourselves of Jesus' promise "You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it." (John 14:14)

So the next time you go to God in prayer, and begin to wonder if He will answer you, just say to yourself, "In the past I may have felt like God didn't hear me, but I now choose to believe what He said in His word. I choose to believe the truth that as long as I desire to remain in Him, and to let His word remain in me, I can ask for whatever I wish, and it will be given to me (John 15:7)."

Along with the assurance that God will answer us, we need the flexibility to receive His answer. God will rarely answer us in the way that we expect because He has promised to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). Our expectation needs to be that He will give us an answer that is bigger and better than what we asked for, and we need to start looking for God to surprise us with His goodness.

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