Ask and Receive

The Sermon on the Mount has this famous promise from the Savior: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matt. 7:7).  This promise is found in various forms throughout the scriptures.  Luke recorded the exact same phrase, as did Mormon “(Luke 11:9, 3 Nephi 14:7).  The Savior said something very similar to the disciples He had chosen among the Nephites: “Therefore, ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; for he that asketh, receiveth; and unto him that knocketh, it shall be opened” (3 Nephi 27:29).  In the Old Testament the Lord told Moses a more specific version of the promise: “But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul” (Deuteronomy 4:29).  From these references alone we can see the importance of the promise given its repetition. 

              The Doctrine and Covenants, though, clearly contains the most references to this promise that if we ask we will receive.  In fact, the number of times the Lord repeats Himself is quite astounding:

·       “Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Amen” (D&C 4:7).

·       “Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (D&C 66:9).

·       “Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (D&C 88:63).

·       “Therefore, if you will ask of me you shall receive; if you will knock it shall be opened unto you” (D&C 6:5).

·       “Therefore, if you will ask of me you shall receive; if you will knock it shall be opened unto you” (D&C 11:5).

·       “Therefore, if you will ask of me you shall receive; if you will knock it shall be opened unto you” (D&C 12:5).

·       “Therefore, if you will ask of me you shall receive; if you will knock it shall be opened unto you” (D&C 14:5).

·       “Therefore, as I said unto you, ask and ye shall receive” (D&C 103:35).

There are also other variations on the promise in the Doctrine and Covenants.  For example, the Lord linked faith and unity with receiving: “And, as it is written—Whatsoever ye shall ask in faith, being united in prayer according to my command, ye shall receive” (D&C 29:6).  Other similar references focus on how the Holy Ghost plays a part in what we “receive.”  The Lord said, “Let them ask and they shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto them, and be made known from on high, even by the Comforter, whither they shall go” (D&C 75:27).  Another verse puts it this way, “Ask the Father in my name in faith, believing that you shall receive, and you shall have the Holy Ghost” (D&C 18:18).  Yet another says this: “If you shall ask the Father in my name, in faith believing, you shall receive the Holy Ghost” (D&C 14:8).  The “receiving” when we ask comes through the Holy Ghost.  The Lord didn’t say in these verses that if we ask we will always receive what we want, but if we ask sincerely ask we will receive the Holy Ghost, which is far better than what we wanted in the first place.