If you go back to Aramaic—which as you probably know, is the language in which Jesus conversed—the root word of ask reveals more than a “well, if it’s not too much trouble.” Ask, in Aramaic, means a combination of “claim” (as in, that deed to the land is yours) and “demand.” To ask for something in prayer is to simply lay hold of what’s yours. You have the right, and even the responsibility to command your life.
