Introduction
Are there 3 types of people here this morning?
The first type... “The spiritual optimist”. When he looks at verses 7 &8 he says, "Yeah! Ask and you WILL receive – God will give me whatever I want if I have enough faith!!! If I pray hard enough! That job, that spouse, that health, that pay rise, that person who doesn’t like will like me, that problem will go away, that dream I have will come true.... all I have to do is ask long and hard enough; seek God; knock until he opens that door... He says, You can get what you want through asking, seeking, knocking."
The second type... “The spiritual pessimist”. He says, "Ask and you will receive? Yeah right! I tried that and it doesn’t work... I asked, I kept on seeking, I knocked..... It wasn’t given, I didn’t find, and the door wasn’t opened! He says, I didn’t get what I wanted. Prayer doesn’t work."
The third type of person that may be here this morning is what we’ll call “the spiritual realist”. He says, "Look at verses 9-11. Jesus doesn’t actually say that if you ask for bread you’ll get bread and if you ask for a fish you’ll get fish! He says, verse 9, if you ask for something good like bread you won’t get something useless like a stone. Verse 10, if you ask for something good like a fish you won’t get something dangerous like a snake. He says, v11 even most human parents know how to give what’s good. And being supremely more perfect than humans, your heavenly Father will always give what is good." The spiritual realist says, "I’ve got to be praying, and praying hard." The spiritual realist says, "As I pray, God will ALWAYS answer me and give what is best."
Expanding the point
Let’s just pause for a moment and think about how God might answer our prayers:
What good parent would give everything the child wanted? What kind of lazy, selfish, adult would emerge from that family?! Think of the mess that child could get into!
I smoked as a teenager. And one day I asked my mother if I could smoke herbal cigarettes (no, not ’whacky baccy’!) I thought that they weren’t so bad for you. I thought that my parents might agree if the cigarettes were herbal... Needless to say, they said No. They knew that it was harmful for me. I asked. But because they loved me they said NO!
It’s not always easy to accept a No. But when we get a No from God, it’s always exactly what we need.
A well known poem has a lot of truth in it...
I ASKED FOR STRENGTH
I asked for strength, that I might achieve,
He made me weak that I might learn
humbly to obey...
I asked for health, that I might do greater things,
I was given infirmity, that I might do
better things...
I asked for riches, that I might be happy,
I was given poverty, that I might be wise...
I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men,
I was given weakness that I might feel
the need of God...
I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life,
I was given life, that I may enjoy all things...
I got nothing that I asked for, but everything that I had hoped for,
Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered,
I am among all men, most richly blessed.
Well, we probably wouldn’t say we’ve been given “nothing that we asked for”, but we can surely get the point of the poem – God always gives what it best.
Application: 5 Principles of Always Answered Prayer.
God’s Word lays down several principles for prayer that is always answered.
1. Pray asking in faith.
In James 4:2 James writes, “You do not have, because you do not ask God”. If today you feel like something’s missing in your life then we ask, are you asking, seeking and knocking? Are you praying? Have you got a problem, a need, a heartache? Then don’t complain, don’t worry, don’t bottle it up! Pour out your heart to God in prayer. Look at the promises God has made and pray that you will realise them in your life.
2. Pray persistently.
There is a progression of intensity in those words, ask... seek... knock. That’s not just a quick ’God bless me’, before bedtime. Pray daily. Pray throughout the day.
3. Pray with right motives.
James goes on to say, “When you ask you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 4:3). Remember Solomon? God blessed him with much because he prayed with the right motives. He prayed for God’s best in his life, so he could do the right thing in God’s eyes. (1 Kings 3:5ff)
4. Pray without cherishing sin.
In Psalm 66:18, the psalmist wrote “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.” We don’t have to be perfect to pray. But if we call ourselves Christian, and yet are doing things we know God hates, then we are cherishing, we are loving sin. This blocks our prayers.
5. Pray knowing that through your prayers your Father God will ALWAYS give you good gifts. That’s the amazing promise of verse Matthew 7:11! What a promise! And here is the answer, here is the key, here is the doorway to the life of blessing! Just ask!
Conclusion
Ask, seek and knock! And as you live in this dependant, trusting relationship with your heavenly Father, He often has more for us than we expect...
In Luke 11 we have Luke’s account of the same teaching. In Luke Jesus says, “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 the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (13) You may ask for bread or fish, but God wants ultimately to give himself to you.
Imagine a young girl who took a gap year and went travelling in Asia. She was having a great time until one night she was robbed and badly beaten. She was taken to the hospital where she lay recovering. As soon as she was well enough she wrote an email to her parents to explain what had happened and where she was. Don’t worry, but please will you send some money for me to pay my medical bills and carry on travelling, she asked. Several days passed and no reply to her email. She wondered what was happening. Didn’t anyone care? And then suddenly the door flung open and in walked her Dad! He had flown all the way to her. She had asked her Dad for things, but her Dad had come himself.
Persistent prayer is the key to receiving God’s good gifts, the best of which is himself. You WILL receive. You WILL find. The door WILL be opened. But we must ask, seek and knock.
