Ask, Seek, Knock

Matthew 7:7-16, Luke 11:9-13

“You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on pleasures.” James 4:2b-3

How is your prayer life?  Ever feel like your prayers hit the ceiling and bounce back rather than going to heaven?  Ever wonder why you don’t get the answers you seek?

Jesus encouraged us to pray, and to keep praying, until we get an answer. Matthew 7:7-8 are Jesus’ words of encouragement and assurance to us:  “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”

Jesus offered further encouragement for us to pray; He said if a son asks his father for bread, would the father give him a stone?  Or if a child asks its father for a fish, would his father give him a snake instead?  Then Jesus made this comparison—if we, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to our children, think how much more our Heavenly Father would give good gifts to us when we ask.

Philippians 4:6 instructs us,  “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”  And then there is that wonderful invitation in Hebrews 4:16,  “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

James 1:5 tells us, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault.” How many decisions do you usually make during a day?  A week?  A month?  A year?  Our need for God’s wisdom and guidance is continual, ongoing, so we need to stay close to Him in prayer to receive His wisdom and power as we need it.  As we keep asking and seeking and knocking, our gracious Heavenly Father keeps hearing and answering our prayers.

All too often we come to God only when emergencies arise, but we need to keep in constant touch with Him.  Jesus called it “abiding”, and Paul called it “praying without ceasing.”  One little girl said, “When I call God in the morning I just never hang up the phone all day.”

God doesn’t always answer our prayers right away.  So we should keep right on praying until He does.  Sometimes He says “yes”, and grants what we have asked.  Sometimes He says “no”.  He may say, in essence, “maybe.  Keep praying”.  He may tell us He will answer later, and we need to wait patiently. Sometimes He will give us the assurance that He will grant a request at a later time, and we can begin to thank Him in advance.  And sometimes God will impress upon us to no longer pray a certain prayer.  Perhaps we have prayed with a wrong motive and are making an invalid request.

We need to remember, too, that prayer isn’t just about asking for things that we want or need.  Much of our prayer life should consist of praise, thanksgiving, and intercession for the needs of others.  Prayer is a conversation with our Heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit—our triune God.  It is the most incredible experience available to man.  Imagine:  we can talk to the awesome God of the vast universe at any time about anything.  He’s never asleep.  His line is never busy.  He’s never too far away to answer our call.  So keep asking, keep seeking, and keep knocking.  He loves to hear from His children!

Father, thank you ever so much for the incredible privilege of prayer. May we enjoy your presence everyday.  Amen.