Ask, Seek, Knock

“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 the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

Matthew 7:7-11

Prayer, for 99.9% of us, is a growth industry. What do I mean by that? I have a lot of conversations with people in the church and Christian friends from around the country and the world. Invariably we will begin to talk about our spiritual lives, and I will ask, “How is your prayer life?” Maybe even reading that question, an answer immediately comes to mind. The answer I most often hear is, “Well, it is okay I guess, but it could be better.” For the vast majority of us we recognize that we need to grow in our prayer life. We could pray more fervently. We could pray more often. We could pray for longer. Prayer is a growth industry.
 
Prayer is about grace. Everything we do in the Christian life should be motivated by grace. I think many of us feel not only a sense of inadequacy about our prayer lives but there is a vague sense of guilt that we are not praying enough or fervently enough. Guilt is never a good long-term motivator. Our initial sense of guilt ought to drive us to the Lord for cleansing and forgiveness. But once we do receive forgiveness, we ought to sense a feeling of release and liberation. God is not in heaven holding a stopwatch to see how long we pray nor is there an intensity meter to judge our prayers. Of course, prayers should be fervent from the heart and there is nothing wrong with longer times of prayer. But notice it isn’t about the one who asks, but the heart of the One who is responding. Fathers who are evil still know how to give good gifts to their children. Our Heavenly Father, who is motivated by love towards his children, is immeasurably greater and will always give good things to those who ask!
 
Prayer is about expectancy. When we ask, we should expect to receive. When we seek, we should expect to find. When we knock, we should expect the door to be opened to us. I heard a pastor argue that God always answers the prayers of his people. I think this is true. It has been said, sometimes God says yes, sometimes God says no, and sometimes God says slow. When we ask in Jesus’ name, we are asking for the things that Jesus would ask. We are not asking to be personally enriched or exalted, we are asking out of a sense of want and need. We are asking according to his will. His heart’s desire has become our heart’s desire, and he is pleased to answer those prayers. If God says no, it is because he knows what is best for us. Sometimes, God says to wait because now is not the right time even for something that is good.
 
Prayer is about submitting. We ask because we are needy. Self-sufficient people do not pray. People who think they can handle life themselves do not pray. If we think we could do it ourselves or if we already had what we needed, we would not pray. As one person put it speaking of grace, “It is the hand of a beggar reaching out to receive the gift of the king.” We trust that our Heavenly Father loves us, and he knows what is best. In his time and in his way, the Lord answers all our prayers and we submit to him because Father knows best.