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When you pray, do you have confidence that God will answer, or do you feel unworthy of God’s attention? Are your prayers specific or general? Is your prayer life a haphazard response to needs and desires, or nourishment for the life of the Lord Jesus Christ within you?
One of the simplest but most profound passages on prayer in all of the Bible is found in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:7—11: "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
"Or what man is there among you who when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!"
Prayer is not only asking and receiving, but also giving thanks, adoring, and praising the Lord God. There are two responsibilities in prayer–God’s responsibility and our responsibility. You cannot have one without the other; prayer is both human and divine.
Notice the Lord’s intensity in the progression in this passage: "ask . . . seek . . . knock." Clearly, Jesus had in mind that we are to become actively involved in the prayer processes. Prayer is not a spectator sport!
Every request, every desire of our hearts, and every need should begin with prayer–asking God for permision, seeking to know His will. Because Jesus Christ has come into our lives and because He has now become our Life, we have the right and the authority to come to Him and make a request. (Ephesians 3:11-12, Hebrews 4:16)
God is always in the process of answering prayer. This simple message is the primary purpose of Matthew 7:7—11. Somebody may ask, "Does that mean that anybody and everybody can ask, seek, knock, and find?" No, because the Sermon on the Mount is addressed to the followers of Christ. He is talking about His own children.
There is a vital element in prayer that most people overlook–steadfastness in prayer. We may not see anything happening, but a delay between our asking and our receiving does not mean that God is not answering our prayers.
Why does Jesus place this emphasis on perseverance? Because He very often delays answering prayer requests, even if your request is, in fact, the will of God. Why does God delay? If He sees within us attitudes of disobedience, rebellion, bitterness, or unforgiveness, or if He notices certain unhealthy habits in our lifestyles, God delays the answer for His children. He may already have it packaged and ready to send your way, but He cannot and will not do so until you are in a spiritual position to receive it.
A second reason for God’s delay is that He is in the process of testing our earnestness in order to build into us an earnest spirit. If we are really earnest, we will not make our request known only once, and then give up if it goes unanswered for a time. That is why He says to pray, and to keep on praying, asking, seeking, and knocking. Persevere. Don’t give up. Endure. Hang in there–even when you do not see any evidence that God will answer your prayer.
Third, God often delays answering prayer in order to test our faith. How does God build our faith? He does it by testing us. How does God test us? He does it by withdrawing. As you and I begin to ask, seek, and knock, something happens in our walk with God. When we talk to Him, we are building and nourishing our relationship with Him. We are getting to know Him–who He is and how He operates. Do you realize that what God wants to give you above everything else, once you have become one of His children, is Himself? He wants you to know Him.
A fourth reason for God’s delays is to develop patience within us as we endure in prayer until His timing is right. God’s timing does not always match our own. He is far more interested in our knowing Him than our getting from Him all the things that our hearts desire.
Would you say that prayer is a vital, integral part of your daily schedule? There is no way for Jesus Christ to be my Life unless I am a praying man. I should be talking, sharing, and relating with Him all during the day. He is my Life!
My Christian friend, why is it that you become involved in so many other things that prayer begins to get shifted aside, and you diligently go about serving the Lord in your own strength, in your own wisdom? One of the primary reasons we do not pray is because we are not willing for God to take His scalpel and open us up all the way down to our innermost beings, and there deal with things that we have never overcome.
Do you realize that one of the largest veins of gold ever discovered in America was found only three feet from where previous miners had stopped digging? Christians often experience the same problem; just beyond where we quit, just out of reach from where we are willing to go, is God’s best blessing.
Now if God says to you, "This is not My will," then naturally you should stop praying about it. However, if there is something that you believe God is working out in your life, or if there is a serious, deep-felt need, do not stop praying. God wants to answer that prayer.
I can think of times when everything in me wanted to stop, and I would just keep on praying and crying out to God. Sure enough, suddenly, with no warning, the veil would lift; and there would be the answer, staring me right in the face. If I had quit the day before, I would have made some foolish decision on my own and missed what God wanted to give me.
Nowhere does the Bible say that prayer is easy. There is a struggle and there will be times when Satan will attack you as you are on your knees, harassing you with doubt and sending distracting thoughts into your mind. One of Satan’s most effective weapons is causing you to feel worthlessness before God. This does not refer to proper humility, but to an unhealthily feeling that God cannot even look at you.
Scripture shatters this fear by boldly proclaiming that you and I have freedom in Christ to approach the very throne of God in prayer. When you go to the Lord, do not be meek and embarrassed; instead, bow before Him and rejoice! Exclaim, "Lord Jesus, I praise Your name that You are my Life. I thank You that I can come to You in confidence because You have told me to ask, seek, and knock. And Lord, I’m coming. I’m coming as Your child, confident that You are listening to what I am saying. Confident that You will give me direction for my life. Confident that You are going to answer my prayer. I praise You and I accept ahead of time the answers for my prayer. Praise God, Amen!"
We do not always like the answers that God gives. He does not say that He will give you anything you ask for; instead, He promises in Matthew 7:11 that everything He gives is good for us. Surely you would not want God to give you something that would harm you or ultimately destroy your life, would you? For that reason, Jesus sets the limitation up front; He says that He will only give us what is good.
Do not worry about asking God for something too big. You cannot ask God for anything so big that He cannot do it if He deems it to be good. God is honored by big, great, difficult, and impossible requests when we ask, seek, knock, and trust our loving Father to always answer for our good.
If you will actively apply this simple truth, God will transform your prayer life, which will in turn transform your relationships, effectiveness, family, business, and all other aspects of your life.
The privilege of prayer is a heritage that belongs to every child of God, a potential that is beyond human understanding, and a work of God’s grace that He has given to each one of us. It is my prayer that you will not let that heritage be wasted in your life. Allow God to make you the man, woman, or young person that He has chosen you to be. Learn to relate to Him. Nourish that inner being of Christ in your prayer life. Make your daily prayer life an ongoing, intimate relationship of conversation with the Lord Jesus Christ.
God's Warrior
THE POWER OF PRAYER
I believe that God only gives three answers to
prayer:
1. "Yes!"
2. "Not yet."
3. "I have something better in mind."
