NEAR THE END of his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told his listeners, "Ask, and it shall be given you" (Matt. 7:7).Yet earlier in this sermon, Jesus said something else about asking, something rather surprising in view of this later comment. It was "...your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him" (Matt. 6:8). Why, then, is there any need for us to ask?

To me, it seems that this asking must be something deeper than it first appears. In order to determine what this might be, I have found much help in what the Bible describes of Jesus' healings and prayers.

When people came to him for healing, if they did not first ask him to help them, he often asked them what they wanted even when the problem, such as blindness, was obvious (see Luke 18:35-43).

Consider the story of the centurion who approached Jesus on behalf of his ill servant (see Matt. 8:5-13). His recognition of Jesus' authority brought forth the Master's praise: "I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." In this experience, it seems as though Jesus was emphasizing the value of recognizing the divine authority that we are addressing. This understanding was so important that more than once he reminded his followers that this authority came not from him, but from God.

By asking God for help, we recognize His authority. This encourages us to put aside human egos, excuses, or a tendency to outline our own solutions. We feel the desire to let go of relying on anything other than God.

This letting go is a good way for our asking—our prayers—to begin. In the same Sermon on the Mount, Jesus also offered a homily on prayer. It includes what Christians have called the Lord's Prayer (Matt. 6:9-13). How aptly it starts with a declaration of the supreme authority of God: "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." Can there be any doubt where we start? Truly recognizing God as power over all is prerequisite to everything else.

We may think we're always aware that we're addressing divine authority, and perhaps most of the time we are, but in some cases it may not be so simple.

I will always remember a healing of a dear relative of mine. While she was vigorously cracking walnuts for a cake, part of a shell flew into her eye. Attempts to extricate the shell only seemed to make matters worse. Since she was convinced of God's power over all, she repeatedly made the effort to turn to God for help, but the pain and impairment of her vision made her very fearful. After some time, her husband persuaded her to seek help in the emergency room at a nearby hospital.

Before they went inside the hospital, she felt moved to pray again. From this prayer, she felt assured that no matter what seemed to take place, God's authority over His creation is real. With that realization, she asked her husband to turn the car around so they could go home. On her way back, her eye was suddenly and completely healed. Her resolution to trust God was the ultimate of asking, the acknowledgment of God's authority no matter what the material condition would claim.

In the Lord's Prayer, we find requests for daily supply, for forgiveness, and for protection from evil. So it is right to add our own requests for help in our prayers. But before we do, it is well to compare them to Jesus' examples. In asking for daily supply, Jesus does not imply worry for the future; when he asks for forgiveness he adds our own need to forgive; and when he asks for deliverance from evil, I feel that it implies our own need to resist temptation.

We might gather from this that we can learn much about ourselves by carefully considering just what we are requesting. In the end, we may find that what we really need is to see better the fundamental truth of God's creation, which will show us our perfect selves. In this spiritual knowledge, we will find solutions to every single need.