TERRI: Did you know there are certain things you could be
missing out on simply because you haven't asked? Like
promotions, benefits, raises, scholarships, discounts,
upgrades. The Bible says, "You have not, because you ask not."
Let's learn how to apply this powerful principle to your life.
(Music)
TERRI: Hey, I'm Terri Savelle Foy and you're watching Live
Your Dreams. I pray as you invest in yourself today, you're
captivated and you're catapulted to live your dreams. I was
thinking about how so many times at the start of the year
different ministers and pastors they'll receive a word from the
Lord for the year. Things like it's a year of favor, it's a
year of acceleration, or a year of change, or a year of new
beginnings, a year to flourish, things like that. Well, when you
receive a word like that from someone you respect, someone you
really believe they hear from the Lord, you need to hang on to
that word all year long, and declare it. Speak it out of your
mouth all year long, not just in January. That's not all you need
to do. You need to define what it means to you. Like when
someone says, "It's a year to flourish," well what does that
mean to you? If you were to experience a year of
flourishing, does that mean you paid off all your debts, you got
a promotion? Does it mean that you went on a trip you've been
believing in God to go on? What does it mean? If it was December
31st and you looked back over the year, and you said, "This is
the year we truly flourished," what needs to happen for you to
say something like that? Well, my point is, how would you know
if you experienced a year of acceleration or a year of
flourishing if you never define it? In fact, in the business
world, in the success world, they define success clearly.
There's no hesitation, there's no confusion about what success
means. For instance, with NASA, did you know years ago when John
F. Kennedy had that vision, that dream, to take a man to the
moon, to land him safely on there, put the American flag,
and bring him home safely, he had that vision so clearly
mapped out? From what I'm told, they had this massive painting
at the NASA headquarters of a man landing on the moon with the
American flag. They said it was so big, it went from the ceiling
to the floor, and right when you walked into headquarters you saw
the vision. You saw, if we achieve that, then we've
succeeded. Well, apparently they achieved that dream two years
ahead of schedule. The vision was clear, right? Our goals and
dreams should be just as clear and written out. Of course,
everything begins with a vision. Vision is what keeps you alive.
Vision's what takes you from where you are to where you want
to be. In fact, don't be like the guy whose tombstone read,
"Died at 30. Buried at 60." In other words, for 30 years of his
life, he just existed. He just let life go by for 30 years.
Obviously, with a broadcast title Live Your Dreams, I'm
going to talk about your dreams. But there's something I was
overlooking for years of my life. Once I began to apply
this, it's a success trait from the Word of God, I began to live
my dreams. It may not be what you think it is. It's summed up
in three little letters, A-S-K. It's asking. It's the art of
asking. Asking for what you want. Did you know that you
could be missing out on major things in your life simply
because you haven't asked? In fact, you look at Matthew 7,
verse 7, listen to what this says, "Ask and it will be given
to you." I'll keep going. We could stop right there, but I'll
keep going. It says, "Seek and you will find. Knock and the
door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and
the one who seeks finds. And to the one who knocks, it will be
opened." Then the next verse says this, "How much more will
your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who
ask Him?" So God's expecting you to come to him and just ask. In
fact, when I began reading this scripture and looking in the
Word of God to see, "Are there more scriptures that talk about
asking?", I found scripture after scripture of so many times
the Lord's telling us to ask for things. Well then I began to
look in the business world, in the success world, in marketing,
and how most companies have learned how to apply the art of
asking and seeing crazy results. In fact, McDonald's for example,
do you know years ago McDonald's began to adapt this principle?
They began to train their staff, they said, "We want you to ask
one question. When somebody orders a hamburger and a drink,
ask 'em one question." You know what that question was? "Would
you like fries with that order?" Well, apparently a lot of people
said, "Sure. Why not." That single question raised their
bottom line more that $20 million the first year, all
because they asked, "Would you like some fries?" Well, you
know, this came from the Word of God, this principle. In fact,
God's the one who said, "Ask and you shall receive." It's that
simple. You know, these are the type things that are so simple
we often overlook it or we think it's too good to be true. God,
you know, the thing about the Lord, He already knows what you
want. He knows what you need. But He still finds it important
for you to ask for it. Percy Ross said this, he said, "Asking
is, in my opinion, the world's most powerful and neglected
secret to success and happiness." Like I said,
throughout the Bible, God says, "Ask." I started doing research
on this and I put together this message which we're offering
this week about, you get what you ask for. Listen to this
scripture. Psalms 2:8, it says, "Ask and I'll give you the
nations." He literally said that in the Word, "Ask and I'll give
you the nations." I had this very vivid memory of me sitting
on a little park bench in Paris, France, right by the Eiffel
Tower, and I just sat there and I thought, "Lord, I know I
studied French in college. I have a degree in French. I
thought it was just a wasted degree. I don't know what I'm
gonna do with this degree." I said, "Lord, I remember that
scripture that says, 'Ask and I'll give you the nations.'" I
will never forget sitting there and I just said, "Lord, I'm
asking you for France." What I meant by that was, I'm asking
you for opportunities to make an impact in this nation for Jesus.
Do you know God began opening door after door for me to get my
books published and translated in French, and now I'm in
bookstores in Paris? Now I go there and I preach all over the
nation of France. I believe it started sitting on that little
park bench and saying, "Lord, I'm asking you for France." What
do you need to be asking God for? In fact, James 1:5 says
this, "If you need wisdom, ask God for it." It's really that
simple. Then it says this, "He will give it to you. God gives
freely to everyone who ask." That's something that I do
daily, just a part of my daily prayers is, "Lord, I ask you for
wisdom. I thank you for wisdom. Show me if I'm going the wrong
direction." You may need wisdom about if you need to move, if
you need to change jobs, which job to pursue, who to marry,
where to live, which degree you need to get. Lord says, just ask
and He'll give it to you. Philippians 4:6, it says this,
"Continually make your request known to God." What's your
request simply means to ask, doesn't it? If it really is that
simple, then why don't we ask? I think kids, they understand this
better than anybody. They have no problem asking the same
question to the same person over, and over, and over, until
they get a yes. When I started researching for this message, I
said, "You know, the Bible says this over and over. And then
success books say that you need to learn the art of asking." So
I said, "Let's do a little research," just me, and some of
coworkers, and my friends. I said, "Let's keep a track." I
kept a track of every single thing that we were asking for.
For example, one of my best friends was wanting to get her
son into a college preparatory academy. He'd never been to a
school like that. He'd been in the public school system. She
said, "I just feel like this is gonna prepare him for
university. But it's $14,000 a year to get him in this school."
She said, "I really don't have an extra $14,000." I said,
"Let's ask for it." I met with the school because we were going
there too, so I said, "Do y'all ever scholarship students?" They
said, "Yeah. They have to go through an interview process.
They fill out the application. And then we make a decision." I
went back and told my friend. I said, "Let's ask." She went and
applied for the scholarship. They interviewed her son. He got
the scholarship of $14,000 all because we asked. Another
coworker of mine, he's an amazing artist and musician. His
dream is to get out there and perform more and get some
experience. He could just be sitting in his room praying that
one day somebody's going to call him up and ask him to perform,
or he could get up and go ask. He said, "Okay Terri, I'm gonna
do this." He just put together a little packet of what he's done,
and he just started making phone calls. He called all these
little coffee shops around Dallas, Texas. He called me, he
could hardly wait to tell me, "Terri, I booked eight shows in
two months," all because he asked. Another coworker of mine,
he said, "I'm gonna do this." He said, "This doesn't just work
for big things, this works for little things." He said, "I was
at the grocery store on my lunch break, and there were two long
lines, and I was in a hurry, and I thought, 'I'm gonna go ask.'"
He went over to one of the associates and he said, "Would
you open up a new register? I'm really in a
hurry." They said, "Sure." All because he asked.
Then my husband, he has no inhibitions asking. I do, I get
a little nervous about it but we were on our family vacation,
we're checking in the hotel. Rodney's like, "I'm going to do
it. I'll ask." He asked the resort, he said, "Would you give
us a discount?" In fact, he did it like this, "Can you just look
and see if you have any upgrades or discounts available?" They
upgraded our room to a suite at the cheapest room price. I was
like, this is amazing. I never knew I was missing out on so
many things because I wouldn't ask. You know, the Bible says
you have not because you ask not. In fact, this is not that
big of a deal but I was just practicing this, building up my
audacity to just step out of my comfort zone and I had an eye
infection. I developed some kind of infection in my eye, it was
really painful. Then my daughter Cassidy developed the same
infection at the same time, probably because we share
mascara. I went to the doctor one early Saturday morning,
she's asleep, you know and I went to get my eye checked. The
doctor checked my eye and he prescribed an antibiotic to
start taking. He's ready to send me on my way and I thought, okay
Terri, just ask. I just said, "Would you prescribe an
antibiotic for my daughter instead of me having to bring
her in?" I said, "She has the exact same infection that I
have." He said this to me, "I don't normally do this but since
you asked, sure." I thought, seriously, it's that simple? I
saved time and I saved money taking her to the doctor and
doing all that. You have not because you ask not. You know,
we have received testimonies from people all over the world
and I share a lot of these testimonies on the package this
week but we've gotten testimonies from people who have
had hospital bills canceled, had student loans cut in less than
half, $22,000 down to $10,000 all because they called the loan
agency and just asked them. What would you settle for? I'm
telling you, I believe God has so much more for our lives but
we just need to ask. You have not because you ask not. But
here's the other side of that scripture. Ask and you shall
receive. I want you to start develop that audacity to ask for
benefits, ask for bonuses, discounts, favor, percentages
off. You have not because you ask not. I'll be right back.
ANNOUNCER: Everything God has for you is available but it's
not automatic. Obstacles, challenges and resistance will
try to stop you from achieving your dreams and receiving your
breakthrough. In the exciting teaching series, "Audacity",
Terri shares from personal experience, seven key areas to
conquer fear and build the audacious faith you need to
reach your dreams and fulfill your destiny. We'll also send
you Terri's eye opening message, "You Get What You Asked For".
Don't miss out on all God has for you when you can put the
power Biblical principle of asking into action in your life.
Plus, for a limited time, we'll also include Terri's top 10 book
list that will help you move from where you are to where you
want to be. Call or go online now to request your copy of
"Audacity" along with "You Get What You Asked
For" and Terri's top 10 book list. Call toll free:
800-795-5597 or visit us online at Terri.com.
TERRI: I'm so excited about the offer this
week because I believe it's going to help you develop that
audacity to start believing for bigger things, to take the
limits off of God, to stop watching everybody else get
favor and benefits and bonus and promotions and start building
your own courage, nerve and grit to get up and go ask for things.
You know, I said before we closed that there's a price to
pay for not asking. That price is, you have not because
you ask not. I wanted to read this testimony
real quick that I received from a lady named Janie and
she said: "Terri, I love watching your podcast,
especially the last one about asking." She said, "My
daughter was in the hospital for two days. The staff wanted her
to stay the second night so she could see an ENT doctor the next
day. The ENT doctor said he wouldn't be in because it was
not an emergency. Well, that prolonged her visit. My daughter
was told that she had to pay for both nights, which wasn't fair.
She was sitting there waiting for the doctor to come, he never
came and they're saying, you're going to have to pay for both
nights." She said, "I heard you talking about asking and the
testimonies you gave encouraged my heart so she made phone calls
about the bill that they received. They were telling her,
we're going to send this bill to collections if you don't pay
it." She said, "I wasn't satisfied. I wanted to see what
God would do by asking." Then she said this, "I made three
phone calls and the last lady that we talked to said they
wanted to talk to my daughter. They talked to my daughter and I
found out the next day, they canceled her hospital debt
completely." Isn't that amazing? She said, "I have thanked God
for this and I want to thank you for teaching the topic of
asking." I love that because I never knew that we could
actually be missing out on big things because we're not asking.
Ask for the discount, the upgrade, the scholarship, the
promotion, the lower percentage rate, the coupon. I've been at
different department stores and just said, "Do you have any
coupons this week?" And the cashier will say, "Oh yeah, we
do. Here's a 20% off." And I'm like, "Thank you Jesus." You
have not because you ask not, right? I want to share with you
three reasons that we typically don't ask. Number one is
ignorance. You know, I'm not calling you ignorant but I'm
just saying. The Bible actually says, "My people are destroyed
for a lack of knowledge." In other words, we didn't know we
could ask for something. I never knew that I could just ask for
an upgrade at a hotel or an airline. A lot of times, we're
not asking because we just didn't know we could ask. Number
two is low self esteem. A lot of times we just don't feel worthy
enough or good enough to ask or we feel a little shy about it.
That would be probably the category I'm in to. Where you
just don't know, should I even ask this? Even where God's
concerned, we just feel a little too shy about asking God for too
much. Number three is a fear of rejection. You know we're led by
a fear of being humiliated if someone says no. We feel like
we're going to look foolish or stupid but you know, the thing
is, a lot of times people will say no but I love what success
coaches Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, they say, "When
someone tells you no, your immediate response should just
be, next and you move on." Don't take it personal. In fact, they
say, "You didn't lose anything because you didn't have it
before you asked and you don't have it after you asked so you
really didn't lose anything. You're right where you were
before." Just say next and you move on. In fact, I love this
statement that I read from Gandhi. You might want to write
this down because it's so profound it can absolutely
change your life. Are you ready? I hope you have your pen or you
have your phone ready. Gandhi said this, "If you don't ask,
you don't get." I know, it's deep. But it really is the
truth. If you don't ask, you don't get. I'm challenging you
today to build up that audacity, to be bold and not
just asking people for things. That's not all I'm
talking about, like asking for scholarships and stuff.
But also, with the Lord. To ask the Lord for
some things. Even things that you've never thought of.
Ask him for a fast metabolism. Ask him for a desire to
want to work out. Ask him to heal your marriage, to restore
your soul. Ask him to give you a sharp memory. You can ask the
Lord for those things. In fact, Ephesians 3:12, it says this,
"Because of Christ," hold on, I've got to find it. "And our
faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into
God's presence." God's the one who came up with this. He wants
you to be bold. He wants you to ask in prayer and ask in faith.
In other words, have the audacity to believe that God
loves you so much that your dreams don't intimidate him.
When you're asking him for an opportunity to be promoted in a
company, that doesn't intimidate God. When you're asking God to
make you the number one salesperson on the team, that
doesn't scare God or freak him out or stretch his ability to
perform the miraculous. God wants you to come boldly into
his presence and just ask. In this teaching on Audacity and
Asking, I'm going to show you how to get very specific about
your dreams and goals. In other words, I think one of the
biggest reasons we don't achieve the goals that we set for
ourselves is because they're so broad, they're so hazy, they're
not clear. You've heard that statement that vague goals
produce vague results. In other words, don't just say, "Lord,
I'm asking you for increase. I just ask you to increase my
finances this year. I'm asking you for supernatural increase."
Well here's 20 bucks and there's your increase. No, you've got to
get very specific about what you're asking for. If you're
really believing for an increase, what does that mean?
God wants to hear it. In fact, the Bible says, "Write the
vision and make it plain." So that would be saying, "Lord I'm
asking you for an opportunity to increase my personal salary by
$5000." That's very specific, isn't it? Wrap your faith around
that. I've heard Joyce Meyer say, "So many times we've prayed
'just' prayers. If you will just do this one little thing for
me, I won't bother you anymore." Or, "Lord if you'll
just heal me this one time, you know, "Or Lord,
if you can just meet this need." The thing
is, we don't want to ask God for too much, and we're not sure we
should really be asking Him for anything at all. If you really
look at the Word, and especially when you hear this message,
you're going to hear scripture after scripture of times the
Lord said to us, "Ask." In fact, when you say those prayers,
like, "Lord, if you would just let me go on this little trip. I
won't ask you for anything else," well, that word "just"
means barely enough to get by on. That's not what the Lord
wants to hear from you. In fact, Joyce Meyer said this, "Stop
trying to sound pitiful." She said, "Come boldly to the throne
of Jesus," because when you do that, you're basically saying,
"Lord, I know that I don't deserve anything. This isn't me.
I don't deserve a thing, but I'm coming to you in the name of
Jesus. I'm asking you for favor, for wisdom, for direction. Lord,
I'm asking you for God-inspired ideas that produce millions of
dollars." That's one of the things I ask for all the time.
Consequently, God gives me ideas. Ask the Lord for
opportunities. Ask Him for right relationships with the right
people. Ask Him for divine connections. In fact, I said,
"Lord, I'm asking you to surround me with big thinkers,
big dreamers, and big achievers." When I look in my
phone now at my contacts, I say, "Wow, Lord, you've surrounded me
with some big dreamers." In fact, do you know everything
that God is doing in my life today, I've asked Him for it. I
asked the Lord to give me an opportunity to minister to young
women who were rescued from human trafficking and
prostitution. I didn't know how the Lord would do that, but I
just said, "Those are the type of precious people that just
melt my heart." I said, "Lord, I'm asking you to show me how to
minister in these safe houses and girls' homes. Show me how to
get my resources into those homes." Well, do you know today
our dream kids, our resources, are in safe houses and girls'
homes all across America? I asked the Lord for that. I asked
the Lord to open doors for me to impact the nation of France.
Like I've shared before, today our resources are translated in
French. Well, I asked Him for the offices that we have today.
I've asked Him for opportunities to speak with certain people. Do
you know God truly cares about even those things, the little
desires of your heart that you think, "He doesn't care about
that."? In fact, I asked the Lord one time, I said, "Lord,
I'm asking you for an opportunity to minister with
John Maxwell because he's one of my mentors. I just respect him
and learn so much from him." I just said, "I'm asking you for
an opportunity to minister with John Maxwell." Well, I've
ministered at, I think, two or three different conferences with
John Maxwell. Of course, when I met him, he walked up to me, and
he said, "I'm John. I'm your friend," which he says that to
everybody. I said, "I'm Terri. You're my hero." My point is,
God cares about the little things that matter to you. In
fact, Joyce Meyer said this, she said, "Ask God for anything. If
He doesn't want you to have it, He won't give it to you anyway."
Then she said, "I'd rather ask God for everything and get 50%
than ask for nothing and get 100%." Right? God knows what we
need before we even ask Him, but He still says, "Ask." Let me
read this scripture to you. This is from John 14. Jesus said
this. He said, "And I will do, I myself will grant, whatever you
ask in my name, as presenting all that I am so that the Father
may be glorified and extolled through the Son." Then the next
verse says this: "Yes, I will grant, I myself will do,
whatever you ask in my name." Jesus is saying the same thing
two times in a row, just right after each other. Well, He's
repeating this for a reason. He wants you to start asking. What
do you need to start asking for? I want you to really think about
that. In fact, I'm excited about our offer this week. This is our
last week to have this special offer on the teaching of
Audacity and also this special single on Ask. Now, I'm going to
teach you how to be clear on what you're asking, how to get
clear on the dreams and the goals. I know the testimonies on
this are going to inspire you to get up and go ask and to even
realize that you're missing out on some major advantages just
because you didn't know that you could ask. You'll learn about
asking for scholarships and discounts and lower percentage
rates and things like that. Then this is a teaching that I did
where I shared seven key steps that I've had to learn in my
life, to apply in my life, to live my dreams. Now, this is one
of those foundational teachings that I taught this at a success
conference, actually, about having to learn to believe in
myself, having that audacity to believe that God could really do
something with my life. I had to learn to become my own best
cheerleader. You may have heard this phrase, "You can't share
big dreams with small minds." I had to learn I can't tell all of
my dreams to just anybody. I had to learn to keep myself
encouraged. I have to keep my mouth shut. Don't share these
things with them because they're going to try to suck the
ambition right out of you. I had to learn seven different things
about audacity, how to pursue impossible dreams. You have to
get to that place in your life where you realize if your dreams
are possible, you're not dreaming big enough. Then the
audacity to step out of my comfort zone. Do you know
everything that God is calling you to do, it's going to be one
step outside that place of comfort? In other words, it's
going to stretch you. Listen to this phrase, "Comfort and
convenience run the lives of unsuccessful people." Wow,
that's powerful, isn't it? In fact, I had to get to the place
in my life, and I still do it to this day, I say, "Terri, does
this make you uncomfortable?" If the answer is yes, I commit to
doing it. Why? Because that means you're growing. You're
stretching. If you want to go to the next level that God has for
you, you have to be stretched. I'm going to teach you how to
embrace challenges and how even the storms that you're faced
with in your life, those can actually be a springboard for a
promotion. Remember this statement: Satan always attacks
those next in line for a promotion. If you feel like
you're under attack, you feel like you can't go anymore, your
breakthrough is just about to happen. I want you to take
advantage of this. Like I said, this is the last week we're
offering this package. I put in there the top 10 books that I
recommend that you start investing in to change your life
drastically. Remember this phrase: When you feel like
giving up the most, that's always an indication your
breakthrough is just about to happen. You just need to develop
that audacity to believe God for impossible dreams. I want to
thank you so much for watching. Remember this: Don't look at all
the years you've lost. Look at the years you've got left, and
start living your dreams. Thanks for watching.
ANNOUNCER: Everything God has for you is available, but it's
not automatic. Obstacles, challenges, and resistance will
try to stop you from achieving your dreams and receiving your
breakthrough. In the exciting teaching series Audacity, Terri
shares from personal experience seven key areas to conquer fear
and build the audacious faith you need to reach your dreams
and fulfill your destiny. We'll also send you Terri's eyeopening
message, You Get What you Ask For. Don't miss out on all God
has for you when you can put the powerful biblical principle of
asking into action in your life. Plus, for a limited time, we'll
also include Terri's top 10 book list that will help you move
from where you are to where you want to be. Call or go online
now to request your copy of Audacity, along with You Get
What You Ask For and Terri's top 10 book list. Call toll free,
800-795-5597, or visit us online at terri.com.
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