"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."
"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish,
will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to
your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this
sums up the Law and the Prophets”
Matthew 7:7-12 (NIV)
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."
"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish,
will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to
your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this
sums up the Law and the Prophets”
Matthew 7:7-12 (NIV)
It’s
not about persistence as if God is asleep at the wheel and needs to be awakened.
It’s not about telling God what you need as if God doesn’t already
know. It’s not about
getting God to change his mind as if your will is superior to His.
It is about asking frequently enough so that over time we learn to
match our asks to God’s will for us.
Yet it isn’t simply that.
We
do know that the Psalms would have been Jesus’ prayer book.
In them Jesus would have read requests, complaints, fear, trust, praise,
doubt and hope. He would have
read the full scope of the human condition brought openly and frankly before
God. In the Psalms Jesus
learned that prayer is bringing the full range of one’s own life directly to
God, because where else is one to go?
It takes vulnerability, confession, the swallowing of pride and the
admission of weakness to come God in the kind of prayer that actually changes
things.
Prayer
is in its essence simply a relationship of trust between oneself and God.
It’s a child coming to her father and asking, thanking, praising and,
yes, complaining, yet doing so because she knows that her Dad loves her and that
Dad is good. Even a bad
dad will do what’s best for his son or daughter.
How much more God!
God
is better than we are and God is altogether good.
It’s pretty hard to pray without believing this.
Unanswered prayer? I
have lots of answers for that but none that will satisfy the skeptic.
God is good, that’s all. And
the longer I live the more I know that and the more I can trust.
I can grow out of the adolescence that still thinks “I know better”.
At
bottom, prayer is a relationship. When
my child, at whatever age, comes to me, what can I do?
I offer him or her my best.
So too with your Father in Heaven.
One
other thing. Do not fall for
believing that prayer only changes you.
Incredible and inexplicable as its, the Bible teaches us that trusting
prayer actually changes the world, yes, even your world.
“Lord, how much I must have missed in my
life by simply avoiding coming to You.
How much could have been gained by simply asking.
How much of you and your love and trustworthiness I could
have experienced had I interacted with you and trusted instead of plowing
through life on my own. No
more of that. Here I am
Father, I have much to ask and much more of your trustworthiness to discover.
Amen”
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Pastor, my prayers consist of the same requests night after night most times. How do I know God isn't saying, "ok, I get it, I hear you. Stop asking for the same thing." How do I know my prayers aren't annoying him?
ReplyDeleteHi Gina, Good question. The way it works for me is that I ask. Then I ask again. After a while I don't forget my request but I cease to continually ask because I know God knows my desires. However I do bring it up again and of course my desire is always on my mind and God knows that. After a while I begin to develop a quiet confidence that "God's 'got' this", knowing that God always gives us exactly what we need. I don't think it's helpful to view God as being annoyed but it is helpful to discern the point at which you are simply dissatisfied with God's answer as opposed to believing he's giving you what's needed at the moment. Remember that there's always more going on than what we see at any given moment. Pastor Jeff
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