“Ask, and it will be
given to you”
– Jesus, Matthew 7:7
“You need more than just a prayer.” Have you ever been in such a hopeless or
pointless situation that you have thought this or someone has said this to
you? There is some truth in this
statement. God desires more from us than
just prayer. But we also need to realize
that prayer is more than “just a prayer.”
We have reduced prayer to a last resort, a sacred/religious
practice and we look at prayer as if it’s just not enough. Maybe we misunderstand the basis for
prayer. Prayer is more than just a last
resort, a spiritual discipline, a moment of reverence, or good way to start a
meal/finish the day/open and close a service.
Prayer is a big deal. It’s significant
because we are talking to the God of the universe! The power of prayer is not found in our
well-crafted poetic words, the number of people praying, the number of prayer
lists we are on, or in the way we pray. The power in prayer is found in the one we
pray to! The Mountain Mover, the Promise
maker, Promise keeper. Prayer is
powerful because a Powerful God has made us a promise. Jesus
makes a special promise when he gave us access through him in prayer. It’s a bold promise Jesus makes concerning
prayer. His promise is that when
we ask him, he will answer. In
fact, to clarify his promise, he states it twice!
Read Matthew 7:7-11
Take note of the redundancy:
v.7 “Ask, and it
will be given to you” v.8 “For everyone
who asks receives”,
Every word that Jesus says he means and Jesus never makes
an empty promise that he may or may not deliver on. He always backs up his word with action. Hey, anyone that predicts his own death and then
promises he will raise from the dead three days later has made a bold statement. But when he actually delivers on it…that
person should be taken seriously, especially when he makes promises!
Furthermore, Jesus is not often redundant in the scriptures, so I think
it should be noted that when Jesus repeats himself like he does here in Matthew
7:7-8 we ought to really listen to what he is saying.
He also makes other similar statements about prayer: John 14:13-14, John 15:1, John 15:16, John
16:23-24, Matthew 18:19, Matthew 21:22, Mark 11:24
But he goes even further
to make his promise certain in our hearts by defending that promise!
9) Or which one of
you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10) Or if he asks
for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11) 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!
The other day my son Hudson came inside after playing outside
with the neighborhood kids. He was hot
and sweaty, like he had just finished running a mile, and asked for a glass of
water. What do you think I did? Let me tell you first what I did not do. I did not give him a glass of gasoline and
say, “Drink up son!” Nor did I say, “You
are barking up the wrong tree, go ask your mother.” Why didn’t I do that? Because I’m not stupid, nor am I a horrible
parent. I am certainly not the best
parent, my wife is a much better parent than I am, but I’m smart enough and
love my kids enough to at least attempt to give them what they need when they need it
rather than harm them. My son asks me for
help because he knows this and trusts me.
As a parent you expect your children to trust you. Why? Because you love them and you have their best interest at
heart! The question that Jesus is posing
is this: Don’t you think that a perfect Father
with perfect love and perfect power can and will take care of his children even
better than an earthly father can and will? Jesus is
actually giving a defense for trusting our Heavenly father. Why does he need to defend his father? Because, Jesus knows us better than we think.
Though we may not want to admit it, the truth is that we often don’t trust God.
James 4:2 “You desire and do not have, so you murder.
You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because
you do not ask.”
It could also be said
“that you ask not because you trust not.”
We too often and too quickly trust ourselves, our means, our motives/intentions,
our money, our doctors, our friends, our spouses, our parents before we trust God. We rob God of
the trust that he so rightly deserves!
The crazy thing is that God is more trustworthy than any of these other
things. In fact, He is really the only
one that we can trust, the only one that will never let us down, the only one
that delivers on EVERY promise that he makes. In reality, we are robbing ourselves!
3 Things we need to remember here:
God loves us. The illustration that Jesus uses of a father
and son communicates the basic truth that God loves us more than even the deep
love that human parents have for their children. God’s love is perfect because he is
perfect. Out of his love for us he
desires to meet our need and answer our prayer.
God will to give us
what we need, not necessarily what we want.
Jesus mentions the children ask for bread and fish. These things are basically necessities of
life. God promises to provide the same! He may not provide us with the life of ease
and luxury that we all want, but he will certainly make provision for us with
what we need!
God is good. Jesus’s point is that if we as humans, who are
sinful and tricky, can muster up the ability to give good things to our
children, why would God who is holy, good, and perfect not do so much more. God is good and he will be good to his
children.
- James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
- Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good
God will always give us exactly what we need when we ask. He
loves us and he is good. He wants us to
ask. And when we ask, he promises to answer.
SO ASK HIM!
He always has an answer and his answer is always the best
thing for us! He’ll tell us “yes,” “ no,”
“wait,” or “you need this, not that.” He’s
God, He’s Good, and He love us. TRUST
HIM, ASK HIM!
So when you pray, realize that it's more than "just a prayer." You are tapping into the promises of God. Prayer is taking the need of man by the pursuit of faith, and bringing
that need to the unending and powerful supply of a God who is loving and good and
promises to answer. When you put all of that together…you get
something great. You receive...you find...the door is opened for you.
