The Right Question

I have three kids, Eva is my youngest and she is at an age where I am beginning to get the questions. You know, like when I give her a bowl of soup and say “Honey do you want some crackers for your soup?”

“Why?”

“Cause these crackers taste good in soup.”

“Why?”

“Cause they are yummy soup crackers.”

“Why?”

“Because the soup cracker ferry made them yummy for soup.”

“What color is the soup cracker ferries dress?”

“Blue.”

“No daddy, its pink and purple.”

If you are a parent or have ever spoken to a child, you have laughed, sighed, had your patience stretched, and your heart expanded while answering a question.

If you are a parent or have ever spoken to a child, you know this next statement to be true. There is such a thing as a dumb question. You also know that if the question is sincere then there is no such thing as a dumb question. Its how children learn.

If you are a parent or have ever spoken to a child, you also know that the question reveals an awful lot about what your child already does and doesn’t comprehend and who he or she is becoming. You also know that when giving an answer, you have to speak in the language of your child. This is determined by their age and experience.

Lastly, if you are a parent or have ever spoken to a child, you have often responded to you child’s question with a question of your own. “

“Mom, how do you spell dog?”

“What says “da?” “da?”
or,
“A, B, C? …”

Why do we do this, because the question positions our kids for the answer. It’s meant to help them to learn how to process and find the answer themselves. It’s about helping them mature.

I have learned that when it comes to a sincere question, God absolutely loves them. This is evidenced in the life of Jesus. Have you ever noticed that Jesus rarely answers a question directly? When he is asked questions, often his response is to either tell a story –parable- or ask his own question.

Even when he was just speaking to someone, he almost always raised huge questions. He told Nicodemus that to enter the Kingdom of heaven, he would have to be born again. He told a large crowd that, unless they ate of his flesh and drank of his blood, they had no life in them. While we now know what Jesus meant, at the time, these were inconceivable thoughts that raised lots of questions.

So why did Jesus often respond to questions with either stories or questions of His own? I would like to suggest that questions are one of the best ways to communicate with a free people. And Jesus was absolutely intent on releasing people into greater freedom.

God loves, and when I say loves, I mean absolutely without even the slightest hint of deviation, our freedom. He will not compromise even a fraction when it comes to protecting freedom. It is the foundation upon which everything operates. Why is freedom so important, because it’s the atmosphere in which love can exist. And love is the whole point. Our freedom was what Jesus died to protect, it’s what the cross was all about. It’s the biggest thing that’s ever existed because it’s the soil in which love can be cultivated.

Jesus doesn’t tell free people the answer; he helps them devise a better question. So, He tells stories, He asks his own questions. Along the way He challenges how we think and if we are hungry for an answer, we begin to reform our questions until our mind is, in a word, renewed.

How do you get a renewed mind, you keep asking questions until your questions align with His question. Until at some point you ask the right question. The right question is the one that has power in it. It’s the question that releases the answer, transformation. It’s the question that resonates in heaven.

Jesus came to reveal the Father. That was the whole purpose of his years on earth. He told us that if we have seen Him, we have seen the Father. To truly see Him, we have to learn how to ask the right questions until our perspective is aligned with heavens perspective. Does that make sense?

There is a moment when you ask the question that aligns with the heart of God. And that’s the whole point of asking questions. It’s a search for what is in heaven, what is in Gods heart, so that we can live out His answer here on earth. When you ask God the right question, the answer comes with revelation and power. It sets you free to know His love in greater measure. That’s the whole point of freedom, that’s why it’s so huge.

I am learning that my whole walk with God is about asking the right questions. And God seems intent on helping me with questions of his own. I have learned that when I ask a question, if it’s sincere, it reveals what I know, what I’m missing and where I want to go. And when a question is asked in sincerity, it has power to transform.

For instance, years ago my family and I felt God call us into an unsalaried full time ministry position. While I was in a deep discussion with Jesus and with thousands of dollars in the bank I asked, “God, how do I pay my bills?” He answered like he almost always does, with a question of his own. “Do you trust me?”

I spent the next five years learning how to live in His question and along the way I asked many more of my own until one day I asked a question that shifted everything. I was deep in discussion with Jesus and with just four dollars in the bank I asked “Father, what is on Your heart for today?”

That was the right question and the answer was beautiful... If you are curious, part of it is happening as I write this.

One last thought…

The right question leads to a renewed mind, a renewed mind is the precursor to breakthrough. That word breakthrough, its one we all love, its a wonderful word. It’s the desire of all believers to experience breakthrough in every area of our lives. It’s a prayer prayed daily by millions, “Father release breakthrough in my family, my workplace, in my friends Fox Hollow Coffee house in Orting WA; Lord release breakthrough, I want all that is on your heart for today!”

I am learning that the way we experience breakthrough is by asking the right question. Please hear me cause I think this is big; breakthrough is a position or place in the heart of God. It’s a revelation birthed from God encounter after God encounter. It’s not found in a magic prayer or a good desire or hard work. Breakthrough is found in the process of asking the right question. The right question sets up God and positions our hearts for the answer. God knows we can’t handle a breakthrough until our hearts have become positioned in our Father, until our hearts have been transformed into the likeness of our Fathers.

God wants to answer the question! Everything in the heart of God wants to answer the question! And God values us so much that he waits until our hearts are positioned for the answer, until our question reverberates with the answer that is in His heart.

If its sincere, there's no such thing as a dumb question. Keep asking questions until your perspective is aligned with the heart of God. Keep asking questions until you get the answer that releases heaven into your life.