Last time we talked about not condemning people—because we don’t know their eternal state, nor are we qualified to make a decision about someone’s position with God. We talked about how God is the only one qualified to know the heart, and He is capable of making a fair and just decision.
A lot of times when we think about God, in fact, we picture a very angry man who sits on high and can’t wait to throw lightning bolts at anyone who messes up. God as judge does not usually bring fuzzy warm feelings to our minds.
In a way, we picture God as a stern father—one of those “children should be seen and not heard” kind of parents that if you actually dared ask them for something you got a mouthful of angry words. One picture that comes to mind is the Wizard of Oz. Remember the scene when Dorothy and the lion, tin man, and scarecrow come before Oz? They ask for his help and there is this big “How dare you!” booming voice and they all shake in their boots.
So when it comes to asking God for things—we are reluctant at best. Often times we figure we are blessed just to be in God’s family and going to heaven, but ask God for things? That’s taking your life into your hands!
In reality that just isn’t so. The first thing we have to keep in mind is that God has made Himself deaf to humans, or more specifically, we have made it so God cannot hear us when we pray:
Isa 59:1-2 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
But there is one communication that God always hears, and that is the one from a repentant heart asking for salvation through Jesus Christ. Once that prayer goes up to God, then He hears everything and I mean everything.
John 14:13-14 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
Notice the “in my name” phrase? It’s part of the two reasons we are here on earth—to bring glory to God by being transformed into His image and to become an active part of sharing His love with the world (1 Corinthians 10:31-33). Anything we ask that falls in line with these two things God is ready, able, and willing to perform.
So let’s take a look at Matthew 7:7-11
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The verbs are in the present—meaning a continuous action: “keep asking…” How often in prayer do we say it once and figure if God can hear it then He’s heard it and it is enough. And, in fact, Jesus told us not to repeat our prayers over and over with “empty phrases” thinking if we say it enough or just the right way it’ll be like “open sesame” and our prayer is answered.
The idea is to be persistent and sincere in our prayers.
Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
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God is not stingy. We saw that in chapter 6. Jesus told us not to over-worry for our needs here on earth because God will provide. Jesus showed the character of God as a giver as He freely healed and loved and gave—up to the point of giving His own life voluntarily to take the blame for our mistakes. But again, the point is, what does God give?
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We are evil – Jesus acknowledges this almost in passing
But if we who are evil wouldn’t think of giving something horrible to our children, why would God, who is infinitely more holy, give something bad to us?
Notice this, though, God is not held hostage to our requests any more than a parent is to his/her children. That’s why He says “good things.” If a child asks for a serpent, no parent would give it, just as God will not answer a prayer that won’t lead to a redemptive purpose.
God doesn’t give us a blank check, but when we write it for the things He wants, God’s bank account is limitless.
What are the “good things”? Luke clarifies it a little bit for us:
Luke 11:13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
But this begs the question-what’s the deal when God doesn’t seem to answer and we get hurt? In reality it is all part of the transformation process. Jesus called it “pruning” in John 15. A more important question then is:
Who is the source and resource for your life?
Do you believe that God has your best interests in mind and can be trusted to answer your prayers? We as humans don’t believe that—we haven’t since the Garden of Eden. Satan’s ploy to Eve was self-salvation and self-reliance.
Do we believe that God loves us no matter what? Do we believe that God will only provide good things to us?
Satan says “God is not listening, doesn’t care, and doesn’t want to give you what you want, so you gotta take care of yourself.”
So why pray?
Jesus did it. He didn’t have all the resources here on earth, so he prayed—a lot.
Prayer is God’s way of doing things in this age.
We have a part to play in God’s plan and it happens through prayer.
What is prayer?
It is a wish towards God. Prayer is us telling God the way we thing things ought to be on this earth. The more we are transformed into God’s image, the more we think like God thinks and the more effective our prayers will be because we’ll ask for things that God wants.
How to pray?
Persistent prayer is a way for God to reveal to us how important something is to us. Do you stay at it? Jesus did—all night sometimes. Ezekiel prayed 7 times for rain to return to the land. Paul prayed 3 times for a thorn in the flesh to go away. Persistent prayer is also a way of refining our request. The more we pray the more we think about what ought to be and the better we can ask, especially as the Holy Spirit gives us help.
2 Chronicles 20 is a great example of prayer. Fear leads to honesty before God which leads to a call to prayer which leads to complete reliance on God (“we don’t know what to do but our eyes are on you”) which leads to worship and awe which leads to complete victory—not by our efforts but our standing still.
Don’t be afraid to ask. God will only answer with “good” things. The Holy Spirit takes our prayers and translates them to the Father.
Rom 8:27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
Be specific in your prayers. James says “you have not because you ask not.” (James 4:2). James goes on to tell us we don’t receive because we ask with wrong motivations. So our prayers also need to be sincere and in line with what would bring God glory.
Be Expectant. We want to presuppose God’s response. Don’t do that. Instead, expect a response from God, though it may not be what you asked for. But sometimes we throw prayers up like fishing lures on a bad day at the lake. We don’t really expect a strike. But God does hear and does answer. We may just not be paying attention or looking for the wrong answer.
Meta-Narrative This idea of asking and expecting something good from God is also part of the meta-narrative of the Sermon on the Mount—what is that over-arching theme? Sin and salvation. We’ve seen our lack of purity, God’s holy character, our inability to change our circumstances and our need to focus on eternal things, not temporal. Now Jesus tells us to seek what we need from Him, expecting something good—next time, where to seek that good thing from God.
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