JanYouary: Ask, and You Shall Receive

We're not meant to walk our paths unaided, and sometimes the guidance we need comes from a simple prayer. In today’s episode, we unravel the serenity that accompanies surrendering our challenges to God, as exemplified by the scriptures in Philippians 4:6-7. Prepare to be inspired by tales of opened doors and broken protocols, all stemming from the courage to ask and the faith to believe in divine intervention.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:09

Hey guys, and welcome back to that girl radio. It is your girl, ricky Lee, here, and for today's episode of January, we are going to be discussing why you should start asking so that you can start receiving. What we are going to receive is sometimes looked at as just being desperate, being needy, but as God's children, we are called to rely on Him. We are called to need things and even as members of community, we are required to lean on our neighbors, to trust our brothers and sisters to be able to provide in the areas that we are lacking. And if you are a listener to that girl radio, I am quite confident that you are a very self-sufficient, self-reliant individual. You often struggle with asking for help. You often struggle with verbalizing that you are struggling, and I have been there. I have been there the majority of my life. I am someone who views my weaknesses as just that weaknesses, but often vulnerability can be our greatest strength.

Speaker 1: 1:19

Relying on others in areas where we know we are not the strongest is the best way of showing up for yourself, because you cannot be expecting yourself to be a master of literally every trade. You can't expect that you know how to build the structure of a building that is going to have foundations for so many different things, and you have never taken a course on those sort of things. You are not an architect, and so many of us are sitting here and making the blueprints for so many plans in our lives and we have forgotten to consult God, to ask Him for the resources and the people to be placed in our lives to help us see through our plans. You need contractors, you need people who can review the grounds and see if it is even safe to build in spaces. You need the interior designers to pull together everything. You need the contractors and the painters and all those people to come in and actually build out the space. But so many of us are looking inward instead of outward and trying to find all of the answers in us. We are trying to be the solution for every problem that exists, and I'm here to tell you that you can go somewhere alone, but you cannot go far. Okay, you are not going to reach the destination by trying to do everything yourself. I've been there and I've had to start and I've had to stop several things because I thought that all that I was was enough. And, yes, all of who I am is enough, but it is okay to rely on the skills and the gifts of others to help us get to where we want to be.

Speaker 1: 3:12

If you look at so many biblical stories, you will find that a lot of people had to go places with others. They didn't go alone, they didn't travel alone. They had people to help them, whether that was with encouraging words, whether that was if the person traveled the roads with them, there was just always this sense of companionship and community that helped people to arrive to their purpose. And I want you to understand that there is nothing wrong with needing friendship, there's nothing wrong with needing to be able to trust others to speak life into you and over your plans, and there's nothing wrong with wanting other people to review them and ask you or ask them. You know, hey, what are your thoughts on this? Like, how can I improve this? Where do you know of anybody who can help me with this specific thing? Because biblically it says in Matthew 7 and 7, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be open to you. And I feel like every single time, specifically with that last portion of the scripture knock and it will be open to you.

Speaker 1: 4:23

There have been so many doors that I thought would be dead, bolted shut because of a lack of self-confidence. What I thought was a lack of experience, what I thought was a lack of a certain look, and do you not know, as soon as I stood in front of the door, it just opened because I simply was willing to just ask and they were like oh yeah, come right on in. So many of us block our own blessings because we are thinking in the mindset of no. We tell ourselves no before we even ask the question. And what I want you to start exercising in the year of 2024 is opening your mouth and asking, and not asking to be denied, but asking to be accepted.

Speaker 1: 5:23

Assume that there will be exception. Do not assume that there will be rejection, because that is what most of us do. We assume that we can't get the job because, you know, I don't have the number of years of experience that it says on LinkedIn, like I don't think that I'll be able to be the keynote speaker of this event because I only started my business two years ago. I mean, they don't want a keynote speaker. That's this fresh into entrepreneurship. I can't start the podcast because I don't think people are going to want to listen to me. But when you show up no-transcript, you just ask. When you show up and you just say, hey, I'm interested in X, y and Z, I'm gonna seek this out and see what happens. As God says, knock and it will be open to you.

Speaker 1: 6:17

I'll give you a few examples in my life of times when I went to a door, thought it was deadbolted shut, and God opened it immediately. First and foremost was this last semester of me being in school. I am a moral scholar at the Ohio State University and, for those of you who are unfamiliar with scholarships, most of the time you are allotted eight semesters because the assumption is it'll take you four years to achieve getting a bachelor's degree. Now they give you a semester time slot because they don't want you to be just frolicking around playing and them having to pay for every single semester that you mess up. And I had a whoopsy daisy and I didn't pass a stats class. I had to retake it and that ended up pushing me back a semester and I had used the semester when I was living in New York. I did summer classes.

Speaker 1: 7:18

So at this point, by my fall, by fall of 2023. I had used all eight semesters and I'm sitting here and I'm like well, dang, like I don't know what I am going to do. I, on paper they say you get eight semesters, so I don't know that they're going to be kind to be willing to lend me any more money. So I thought the door will be deadbolted shut. It was a done deal and I was going to have to figure out how to come up with the funds for me to finish out my degree. But then I tapped into my network and I asked around and of course, I know other moral scholars and I was made aware that there is a JP Morgan scholarship that was made specifically for students who utilize all of their eight semesters. Now it was presented to me that this program is quite competitive because there are a lot of students who may need it, so you would have to apply, and that made me feel even worse. It was like there was now a deadbolt and a chain on this door and I was going to again have to figure out how to pay for my semester.

Speaker 1: 8:30

I was very nervous and I didn't know what I was going to do, and I didn't do my FAFSA, as I should have in February. So not only am I lacking scholarships, I'm also lacking like grants. So I don't know what I'm going to do. So I begin the process. I just I go out there and I seek it, as God says to do. Seek and you will find. I seek out the information the previous semester and I figure out all of the questions that I need to answer to apply for the scholarship. I was really nervous, but I'm like oh, once I sought out the information, it was such a simple process.

Speaker 1: 9:07

Sometimes we over magnify the problem instead of over magnifying our faith. I had over magnified the problem and considered for myself that this is not attainable. Right, this door has a deadbolt on it and a chain. There's so many things that I have to do in this process I may not even get it, so why even do it? This is what was going through my mind. But I'm like you know what, ricky? Just do it, just ask, and, who knows, you may receive it. So I apply for the scholarship. Literally two days later I think it was two days later, it was like a very short amount of time I get an email from the man and he says great news, you have been awarded the scholarship and I'm like wow, in all of my years of applying for scholarships, I have not been the luckiest I've applied to like third-party scholarships and like nothing ever really comes of it. So I was like whoa, like I actually. I actually received this thing like the door just opened wide open. It was just like boom, it was that easy. And now my last semester of college is going to be paid for.

Speaker 1: 10:12

And so I say all of that to say sometimes we sit in our defeat before we even allow ourselves to be a conqueror. You get what I'm saying, like you don't even put any fight into it and try to see what the outcome just may be. We deny ourselves of outcomes we desire because of our refusal to get out of our own way and to get out of our own heads. That's just one example. And John 15 and 16, he says you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. And when we hear the word fruit, right fruit comes within. The seed comes from within, and so many of us have, but a seedling inside of us that God has planted in you and that is your purpose, and we are meant to bear fruit.

Speaker 1: 11:12

But so many of us are unwilling to ask for the resources, ask for the enriched soil and the water and so many different things to pour into us so that we can bear the fruit that God has called us to. We're so big on being self-sufficient and self-reliant. We think we know what we need, right. We think we know the resources we need to tap into, we think we know the e-books and the this and that we need to be reading into, and we forget to tap into our Creator and ask Him. You know, like on the instruction manual, god, how am I supposed to be watering myself from your instruction manual? God? How am I supposed to be giving myself nutrients? What am I supposed to be giving and pouring into me so that I can bear the fruit you called me to? And that's where the asking comes from. Any time that you receive flowers, you'll notice that there is flower food, right, there's a packet that comes with it, and for some of those flower packets, they have instructions for you on how you're supposed to utilize it, and so many of us just throw it out and we think we know what is best for these flowers. Even in all actuality, sometimes you need to consult the instruction manual, and our instruction manual, guys, is the Bible.

Speaker 1: 12:37

Our instruction manual comes from our time in prayer, when we speak with God and we ask Him. You know, god, what do you need me to do to fulfill the plans that you've given to me? You've already given me the plan. You've already placed the seed inside of me. What do I need to do to help it bear the fruit? And when you get to that point where you're like, okay, I'm ready to ask. I promise you, every door that you feel like is bolted shut in your life that has all these chains and locks on it, they're going to just magically open every door that has been wedged closed. And you're like God. I've been trying to break through this for years, like what's going on? When you ask Him, you will be given the sauce, you will be given the oil to oil the hinges and allow these doors to just magically open, because I've seen it happen for my life.

Speaker 1: 13:38

Once I started to put Him at the center and I started to ask Him for divine wisdom, for divine creations, for divine, like download into my brain the instruction manual to manifest my purpose. I'm tired of going to worldly resources and tapping into this person and that person and you know like we're the blind leading the blind. And even that girl radio is not the instruction manual for you. You have to be willing to go back to your Bible and get your daily bread. Your Bible is the, is the soil, it is the fertilizer that is going to help your seedling bear the fruit of your purpose. And if you don't consult that, there's only so much that that girl radio can do. I can only sprinkle so many scriptures and talk about just how much I love Him and how much you should love Him.

Speaker 1: 14:34

Until you do and you start to ask for these things, then you won't be able to bear the fruit, you won't be able to manifest your purpose and arise to your occasion, because so many of us are just allowing the problems in our lives to become bigger than they have to be. I could not allow not being able to finish school consume my mind because I knew I had I served a God that was greater than any school bill. Okay, he was greater than any school written Um Remifications on what's supposed to be happening with scholarships? I mean, god breaks protocols on my behalf all of the time. You know, being a Christian, our favor is not fair. Like we, we are, are truly favored, and you have to tap into that.

Speaker 1: 15:26

Tap into the fact that you have someone who is so much bigger than you, so much greater than you, that you can Tap into and ask and you shall receive. Now, always check the source. We're not asking for, you know, crazy stuff, guys. Like we're not asking for him to make a man fall in love with you. Like you know, ask for reasonable things.

Speaker 1: 15:45

But I'm just saying, you know, stop trying to tap into Things that are dead, things that are going to kill you. Stop trying to tap into the get rich quick schemes and this and this and that, because that's not the seed that God plants it into you. You're wasting your time, you're chasing the wind, innocent. Essentially because I've chased the wind, I've tried to attain things that were not in or of me and at the end of the day, I got nothing from it. There was no fruits of my labor.

Speaker 1: 16:21

But when your source is God, when your fertilizer is God, when your water is God, when everything is God, you have nothing but to do but bear fruit. You have nothing but to do but receive blessings, because what you are doing, your work, is not in vain. Your work will be prosperous and it will feed thousands because it is holy innocence, it's whole, it came from a wholesome source and so, at the end of the day, when you are Building things that are going to be of a blessing to others, god will bless it. He says in Philippians 4, in verses 6 through 7 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds. In Christ Jesus, stop magnifying the problems in your life and start magnifying God. Allow him to come into the spaces and the cracks and whatever else, and Manifest all of your dreams. Manifest all of the things that you need to bear fruit of the seeding that he's planted inside of you.

Speaker 1: 17:40

Because so many people are going to be asking you know how did that happen? How did that work? The doctor said no, okay. The financial aid office said no. I mean, so many people said no, but he said yes. That's all you have to say when people ask you how did that happen? God said yes. I asked, and when I thought that I would be denied, he said yes, I stood before the dead bolted door and it just opened up. I was confused. You were just as confused as I was. They were just as confused as I was. But like the god that we serve breaks protocol on our behalf all of the time. We just don't see it.

Speaker 1: 18:26

So many times when you shouldn't have been allowed to Do, when you shouldn't have been qualified to do it, you were because you were called. See, when you're called and when you're favored, it doesn't matter what they say on paper, it doesn't matter what they say in the computer system, it doesn't matter what they say in their books. At the end of the day, he's going to move some mountains so that you can be exactly where you need to be, but you have to be willing to fix your mouth to ask for what you need. You can't do it all yourself. Stop being so stubborn. Stop feeling like you have to be so independent, because, as a woman of of god, you have to be dependent. If you're going to call yourself that girl, you have to depend on him. Stop trying to think that you are all high and mighty and you don't need nobody because you do. You do. You need somebody. You need somebody that you can call on To fill in the spaces when you feel like you don't have anything left to give. And that's what the that girl community is, for.

Speaker 1: 19:34

So many of us have been sending such beautiful messages to each of the followers and Pouring into each other in this month of january, and it makes my heart smile, because that's what it's all about. I see the seedlings in each and every one of you, and I'm hoping that this podcast can be but Fertilizer to each and every one of you, so that you can bear the fruit that god has called you to. It's not going to be easy. Trust me, I know it's hard. It's hard for me to fix my mouth sometimes to ask for the things that I need, but if I don't ask, who will?

Speaker 1: 20:06

I am my own best advocate next to God. There is no earthly being besides my mother who would be willing to go to the ends of the earth to ask for the things that I need, and so you have to be willing to be that brave and daring individual that raises their hand and says you know, hey, I need help. I don't understand this and until I understand this, I won't be able To reap what I'm sowing. You can't keep just doing things the way that you've been doing it and thinking that you're gonna get a godly result Because you're not. The things that you want require for God to step in and make it happen.

Speaker 1: 20:53

I know that I don't want an ordinary life. I know everything that I put on my vision board I can't, you know, accomplish on my own, and everything that I've accomplished to this very date has been nothing but God, in the favor that he has over my life. There are a lot of things that, yes, I've done the work and it's put me into certain spaces, but I could have never orchestrated the way that things have happened. Because he's the master, he has the master plan. I am but a vessel for his plans, but I have to be willing to ask him for what I need, because I'm human at the end of the day, I only have so many abilities like I, can only learn so much and take in so much information on a day to day. But what he can do is bring me divine appointments. He can bring me wise counsel, he can bring me a wealth of resources that can help me Fertilize my seed and water my seed so that it can bear the most rich, nutrient, dense fruit that can feed thousands of people, because all of us have a purpose To feed others, to give to others.

Speaker 1: 22:11

We're all supposed to be in community on earth and so be willing to ask for the things that you need. You never know what you will receive on the other side of that. You'll be on the other side of a dead, bolted door in Minutes because you were willing to ask and God said, oh, I guess she's ready. Well, let's open it up. Guys, stop being in your own way and stop presuming that there will be a denial when God has already accepted it. He's already written off on it. He's just waiting for you to get out of your own way and say hey, alright, I'm ready. I'm ready to walk through this door, because there is no door that he cannot open and that's on period.

Speaker 1: 22:59

So I love you, guys, and I really do hope you enjoyed today's episode on asking so that you shall receive. This conversation was so fruitful and really has fed me in ways that you have no idea, and if you enjoyed today's episode. Make sure to screenshot and share on your socials. It makes me so happy when you guys are listening. And if you're not already following us on Instagram at that girl radio, make sure to do so. And if you're not following your host, what are you doing? I'm Ricky Lee, I'm on Instagram at Ricky Lee co and I'm also on tiktok at the Ricky Lee. I love you guys and I cannot wait to catch you tomorrow.