INTRODUCTION
ILLUSTRATION: PRAYER’S BEST POSITION
Three ministers were talking about prayer in general and the appropriate and effective positions for prayer. As they were talking, a telephone repairman was working on the phone system in the background.
One minister shared that he felt the key was in the hands. He always held his hands together and pointed them upward as a form of symbolic worship.
The second suggested that real prayer was conducted on your knees.
The third suggested that they both had it wrong--the only position worth its salt was to pray while stretched out flat on your face.
By this time the phone man couldn’t stay out of the conversation any longer. He interjected, "I found that the most powerful prayer I ever made was while I was dangling upside down by my heels from a power pole, suspended forty feet above the ground." That’s prayer!
A. TEXT: MATTHEW 7:7-12
Our subject is one I could skip - it’s so easy to understand!
1. In Fact, WE COULD RECITE IT
"Ask" … "Seek" … "Knock" … "For everyone" …
2. A Subject WE ALL UNDERSTAND
a. The Bible says, ’Ask and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you’.
b. THEREFORE all we have to do is ask for it WITH faith and persistence, and WE WILL RECEIVE IT.
c. And when we DON’T HAVE, we know it’s because we haven’t asked
After all, James says ’You do not have because YOU DO NOT ASK’ James 4.2)
d. So go for it! NAME IT AND CLAIM IT!
If you DON’T receive it, (it’s NOT b/cause we may be taking the scripture out of context) - NO - IT’S BECAUSE OF SIN!
e. We treat God as a CELESTIAL SLOT MACHINE - just pull the handle enough times in prayer, and you will get what you want.
B. PRAYER IS A HARD SUBJECT TO UNDERSTAND
a. Understanding Prayer BEGINS with Honesty!
- Unanswered Prayer
- Confusion on HOW to PRAY - WHEN - WHERE - WHAT CONDITIONS
- Maybe even - What to ask for?
C. SOME PRINCIPLES ON PRAYER
While we must be cautious NOT to take this passage out of context with the Sermon on the Mount, there are some key principles surrounding prayer that we can pull from this passage.
a. Recap what has happened - especially 7:1-6)
b. 3 OBSERVATIONS I would Like To Point Out for You to Consider Today
I. BE PERSISTENT (7-8)
Jesus begins to close the sermon by CALLING ON THE DISCIPLES TO "BE PERSISTENT IN PRAYER"
READ VERSE 7
A. 3 COMMANDS that Require PERSISTENCE
You could literally say "KEEP ON asking, KEEP ON seeking, and KEEP ON knocking"
1. "ASK" - GRK to ’ask, beg for, call for, desire or require’ -
BUT - Jesus Gave Some Earlier Conditions
a. In Agreement with God’s Will For Your Life
Matthew 6:8 (NIV)
8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
b. Must Bring Glory to God
Matthew 6:9-10 (NIV)
9 "’Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
John 14:13-14 (NIV)
13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
c. The Right Motive
1. All of the Sermon on the Mount has been about the HEART - the MOTIVE - What is your motive?
2. READ JAMES 4:2b-4
2. "SEEK" - GRK to ’an intense active search EXPECTING TO FIND’
A deep intense longing for God’s Will in one’s life & must be found.
Proverbs 8:17 (NIV)
"I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me."
1 Chron. 16:11
"Look to the Lord and his strength; SEEK his face ’ALWAYS’"
IT’S A VERB THAT CONSTANTLY REQUIRES "ACTION"
3. "KNOCK" - Implies persistence even through the obstacles we encounter
- Constant Persistence. (Many MOTIVES are discovered when the obstacles come one’s way)
- Many ASK, Many SEEK, but when it gets tough - with obstacles - quit
KNOCKING implies that we will have the COURAGE TO PASS through the OBSTACLES (the DOORS) that gets IN OUR WAY.
READ LUKE 18:1-8
B. 1 PROMISE REQUIRING "BELIEF"
READ VERSE 8
a. The Sermon on the Mount BEGAN with Promises Requiring Belief
SKIM MATT. 5:3-10
Mark 11:24 (NIV)
24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
APPLICATION - Maybe God is wanting to know
1. Do you ASK Expecting God’s Will to Be Your Request?
2. Does What you ASK Draw You Closer to God? Does it require you to SEEK the FATHER?
3. Does Your STAND AGAINST the OBSTACLES show Your COMMITMENT AND DESIRE of what you ASK?
4. DO YOU BELIEVE?
II. TRUST YOUR FATHER - HE KNOWS WHAT IS GOOD (9-11)
Not only must our prayers be persistent but they must INVOLVE TRUST for the FATHER KNOWS BEST!
READ VERSES 9-11
A. Dads, suppose your child comes to you ASKING for something! Yeah Right!
1. You know their MOTIVE (HEART) is GOOD
2. You know the REQUEST is GOOD for them
3. What will your answer be?
B. KIDS - Do you not TRUST your PARENTS to know WHAT IS BEST (GOOD) FOR YOU? (I know - that’s a joke!) (if they say NO - use that for why prayers may be unanswered - LACK OF TRUST!)
1. Can’t you look back in your life -he said NO (at the time you didn’t agree or understand - you may have even pouted) - but NOW in looking back you see it was actually for your good that HE SAID NO.
2. Our TRUST for God SHOULD BE THE SAME! If He says "NO" - trust that it is for you good!
C. KEY WORD = "GOOD"
God KNOWS what is for our GOOD. In fact, if what you received turned out to be bad - IT WASN’T FROM GOD!
Romans 8:28 (NIV)
"And we know that in ALL THINGS God works for the GOOD of those who love him who have been called according to his purpose."
James 1:17 (NIV)
17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
III. THE GOLDEN RULE
READ VERSE 12
1. GENERAL MEANING
"Guided by justice and mercy, do unto all men as you would have them to do to you, were your circumstances and theirs reversed."
2. IN CONTEXT - THIS IS IMPORTANT
In the preceding section, Jesus set up some hard judgments that one would make of another. Jesus is saying, "IF the situation was reversed, what judgments would you want others to make regarding you?"
QUOTE: McArthur Commentary
"A text without a context is a pretext. Isolating this text from its setting in the S.O.M. is DEADLY."
We must not judge another in a way that we do not wish to be judged. Nor should we deny another of something we desire NOT to be denied of us.
3. Now let’s apply this to prayer:
We ask God for good - yet we treat others with ill will - So HOW can we ask God for GOOD?
SUMMARY
ASK - Persistently and consistently involve God in your wants, needs, and desires.
SEEK - Expecting to find God’s will
KNOCK - Don’t let the obstacles throw you out of the race - KEEP KNOCKING!
BUT TRUST him and know that He knows what is best! (even when it doesn’t make sense)
ILLUSTRATION:
A heart-broken little girl began to kneel and pour out her heart to God at the altar at her church. She did not know what to say. As she wept, she began to remember what her Father had told her, "God knows your needs even before you pray, and he can answer when you don’t even know for what to ask."
So she began to say her alphabet. A "concerned adult" knelt beside her and heard her sobbing and saying her ABC’s and inquired what exactly she was trying to do. The little girl told this caring adult, "I’m praying to God from my heart." But the adult answered, "It sounds to me more like your are saying the alphabet!"
"Yes," she said, "But God knows more about what I need than I do, and he can take all these letters and arrange them in just the right way to hear and answer my prayers!"
