In many of the prayer passages in the Gospel, we are told to ask and we will receive.
Receive is a passive word, implying that we must passively sit by and wait until the answer comes.
But Thayer’s definition of the Greek word lámbanō used in these scriptures is much different. He defines it as an active participation—to take, lay hold of, take possession of, take what is one’s own!
Lambánō
- to take
- to take with the hand, lay hold of, any person or thing in order to use it
- to take up a thing to be carried
- to take upon one's self
- to take in order to carry away, without the notion of violence, i.e. to remove, take away
- to take what is one's own, to take to one's self, to make one's own
- to claim, procure, for one's self
- to associate with one's self as companion, attendant of that which when taken is not let go, to seize, to lay hold of, apprehend
- to take by craft (our catch, used of hunters, fisherman, etc.), to circumvent one by fraud
- to take to one's self, lay hold upon, take possession of, i.e. to appropriate to one's self
- catch at, reach after, strive to obtain
- to take a thing due, to collect, gather (tribute)
- to take
- to admit, receive
- to receive what is offered, not to refuse or reject
- to receive a person, give him access to one's self
- to regard any one's power, rank, external circumstances, and on that account to do some injustice or neglect something
- to take, to choose, select
- to take beginning, to prove anything, to make a trial of, to experience
- to receive (what is given), to gain, get, obtain, to get back
