Ask, Seek, Knock: Getting Answers to Prayer
Introduction: Jean McMahon wrote in the Reader's Digest “Attending church in Kentucky, we watched an especially verbal and boisterous child being hurried out, slung under his irate father's arm. No one in the congregation so much as raised an eyebrow – until the child captured everyone's attention by crying out in a charming southern accent, “Y'all pray for me now!” (Jean McMahon - Reader's Digest April 1980)
We sometimes pray out of desperation, don't we? When all other options have been tried we tend to go to God as our last resort.
Ill. What if we were like the 3-year-old boy (that Paul Harvey told about) who went to the grocery store with his mother. Before they entered the grocery store she said to him, "Now you’re not going to get any chocolate chip cookies, so don’t even ask."
She put him up in the cart & he sat in the little child’s seat while she wheeled down the aisles. He was doing just fine until they came to the cookie section. He saw the chocolate chip cookies & he stood up in the seat & said, “Mom, can I have some chocolate chip cookies?” She said, “I told you not even to ask. You’re not going to get any at all.” So he sat back down.
They continued down the aisles, but in their search for certain items they ended up back in the cookie aisle. “Mom, can I please have some chocolate chip cookies?” She said, “I told you that you can’t have any. Now sit down & be quiet.”
Finally, they were approaching the checkout lane. The little boy sensed that this may be his last chance. So just before they got to the line, he stood up on the seat of the cart & shouted in his loudest voice, “In the name of Jesus, may I have some chocolate chip cookies?”
And everybody round about just laughed. Some even applauded. And, due to the generosity of the other shoppers, the little boy & his mother left with 23 boxes of chocolate chip cookies.
(SOURCE: Jeff Strite in "The Power Of Persistent Prayer" on www.sermoncentral.com.)
Well You won't receive anything if you don't ever ask. Some people think the more boisterous their voice the more their prayer will get answered. It may hove worked for this little boy but that's not the case for us. This morning we are going to dive into what it takes to get our prayers answered.
Matthew 7:7,8 - “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” For everyone who asks receives; he who seek finds and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Transition: Here we see what we must do to have our prayers answered. We must pursue God with prayer with humility, priority, and tenacity. The first thing we must do to get our prayer answered is to ask with humility.
I. Ask with Humility
“Ask and it will be given you; . . . . For everyone who asks receives . . . .”
When we pray, we must ask. Notice it doesn't say: Demand and it will be given you or Command and it will be given you, or Order or dictate and it will be given you. No. Jesus says “Ask and it will be given you;” We ask God to meet our needs and desires. “ . . . in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (Phil 4:6) Be grateful for past mercies when asking God for anything. Do you notice the humility required in asking? If we can not humble ourselves before God to ask, he is not obligated to answer us. In fact the apostle James makes this point “ . . . you do not have because you do not ask God.” Some people think, 'Oh goodie, I'll ask for a Ferrari, or a mansion, or a a million dollars, etc.' James says in the next verse “when you ask, you do not receive because you ask with the wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”
Humility is required when asking God for something. When we ask, we must ask like a beggar asking for money. The beggar is totally dependent upon the generosity of the giver. If He doesn't receive kindness from others he will go hungry. When we ask God for anything, we ask completely depending on his generosity. Like a beggars life is in the hands of other men, our life is in then hands of God, and we know it! If a man can survive off of the kindness of others, how much more can we not only survive but thrive off of the kindness of our God!
I read that a man was arrested for panhandling off of I-40 near Oklahoma City in 2012 and had to pay a $200 fine. He said that it wasn't a bad price, considering he had made $60,000.00 the year before. Even if he had made half that much, that is a lot of money, for doing nothing more than asking! If a person can humble themselves and release themselves of all dignity to beg. If a man can suffer the cynical looks and piercing stares of onlookers, if he can stand the shame of standing on the street with a sign that reads “I need your help!” or “Please help me!” he can live off of the generosity of others, and he can live well. If we can humble ourselves before God and throw off our pride, and come boldly before him in spite of our shame, our guilt, our sin and humbly ask him for our needs . . . . We will find that begging is a thriving business!! And Christ approves of it! This is what we are told to do!
We also ask God, like a tourist asking for directions. The running joke is that men never ask for directions. Why? I think we don't like to admit we are lost. But again if we can humble ourselves and suffer the embarrassment and admit we are lost - “God show me the way, because I am lost!” then God will respond with giving us directions.
Remember, we are strangers in a strange land. Its understandable to be lost here, let the worldly be familiar with this world, it is their home not ours. We don't want to get too familiar with this land, because we are not going to be here long anyway. We are merely traveling through. God is the ultimate tour guide, he is all knowing and all seeing, he is familiar with everything in every city, in every state, and in every country. When we ask him for anything, we ask understanding that He knows exactly where we came from, He knows exactly where we are, and He knows exactly where we are headed.
You are not asking, hoping; You are asking believing! You ask knowing He knows the answer. “All things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer believing, you shall receive.” -Matthew 21:22
Transition: We not only ask believing, but we seek believing. We second our prayers with our endeavors. So secondly If we want to have our prayer answered, we must seek with priority.
Ii. Seek with Priority
“ . . . seek and you will find . . . he who seeks, finds . . .”
It may take humility to ask God, but it takes faith to seek God. God wants us to continually pursue him. When we look for anything we look with our eyes, but when we are seeking God we seek with our spiritual eyes or with our faith. Hebrews 11:6 says “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
Jesus said in the previous chapter “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” -Matthew 6:33
If we have the faith to seek him then we must have the desire to seek him first. The pulpit commentary of the Bible explains Matthew 6:33 thusly: “If the search for earthly things be put into a secondary place, it may be allowable.”
Pursue God and his desires before your own. Chase him with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength and all other things may be allowable.
We must seek God like we are seeking something that is lost. We may have lost the love, or that excitement, or wisdom. We seek him like we seek our misplaced cell phone, wallet, or car keys. We have to have those, and whenever we can't find them, there is a some panic. We put all other things on hold until we find them. But here we read “Seek ye FIRST the kingdom of God . . .”. Do you notice that when we lose our personal things, everything else suddenly becomes secondary. When we seek God, He is the priority! He wants us to seek him and put all other things on hold until we find him.
I can not stress enough the importance of constant and continuous seeking prayer. We seek him when we open our eyes in the morning, until we close them again at night. We seek him in the morning, noon, and night. Hard at work, or resting on the couch, standing at the ball game, or sitting on the church pew, pumping gas at the gas station, or checking out at the grocery store. We seek him constantly.
You might ask “How can I seek him in the middle of such activities?” You seek him with your mind. If you don't fill your mind with what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, excellent, or praiseworthy – the enemy will fill your mind with what is false, dishonorable, impure, ugly, corrupt, and wicked. And he will have you seeking after all of those things. As a Christian, you learn to master the art of praying with your mind. You know that God knows your thoughts, so you begin to devote those to God as well as your words. When we 'seek' we do so continuously - think of it as “keep seeking and you will find” If you seek consistently and in the right spirit YOU WILL FIND WHAT YOU SEEK. It is promised to you, and it is impossible for God to lie.
Seek God like something lost and seek him like a treasure hunter searching the oceans for sunken treasure. There used to be a commercial for the Navy. “Its not just a job its an adventure.” Like the merchant who was seeking costly pearls and found the pearl of great price. He found what He was seeking and then some! Those that love God will seek everywhere they can to find him. Their life is consumed with seeking him. We are seeking God by prayer, the same way an archeologist seeks an ancient artifact. Their pursuit is their passion, and their passion defines their life. As a Christian our pursuit of God becomes our passion and that passion defines our life. Its not just a job, its an adventure!
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” -Jeremiah 29:13 God must be the priority if you want to find him.
Transition: And finally, In order to have our prayers answered, we must knock with tenacity.
III. Knock with Tenacity
“Knock and the door will be opened to you.”
It may take humility to ask God, and faith to seek God but it takes persistence to knock on his door.
Knocking is an action. If a person needs something from someone behind a door, the natural thing to do is knock – and keep knocking until the door is opened. A believer should pray in faith persistently until they get an answer from God. And when they knock they should knock like someone who wants to be heard. Not gentle taps but heavy pounding! I want your attention!
Pray with persistence. Remember the parable of the persistent widow. She kept on and on begging and pleading with the wicked judge, who didn't care about anybody but himself. She brought her case to him continually until she finally wore him out with her incessant petitions, and He gave her the justice that she asked for. If a wicked man will respond to persistence, then how much more will a good Father respond to persistence.
Ill. When my sister was 15 she kept asking for a Jeep for her 16th birthday, and my dad initially said no. but she kept asking and even putting a picture of a jeep she cut out from a magazine on my father's pillow and then another in my parent's closet, and then another on their bathroom counter and kept this up for some time. When she turned 16 she had the Jeep she had been asking for.
That's the point of the parable. We must constantly put our requests in front of God and be tenacious in doing it.
The Lord wants us to pray with tenacity. If you want in the house – you have to knock on the door! Sin has shut the door but by prayer we knock, and the Lord promises it will be opened to us. He not only wants us to knock but keep knocking. We are to Ask ask ask ask, seek seek seek seek, knock knock knock knock, pray pray pray pray. In the gospel of Luke it puts it this way “keep asking and it will be given you. Keep seeking and you will find. Keep knocking and it will be opened to you.”
Matthew Henry says “Pray; pray often; pray with sincerity and seriousness; pray and pray again; make conscience of pray, and be constant in it.” In short: Just keep praying.
Ill. Bill Hybels tells about an interesting experience after a baptism service in their church. He writes: “I bumped into a woman in the stairwell who was crying. I thought this was a little odd, since the service was so joyful. I asked her if she was all right. She said, 'No, I'm struggling.' She said, 'My mom was baptized today. I prayed for her every day for almost 20 years. The reason I'm crying is because I came this close to giving up on her. At the 5-year mark I said, “Who needs this? God isn't listening.” At the 10 year mark I said, “Why am I wasting my breath?” At the 15-yr mark I said, “This is abusrd.” At the 19-year mark I said “”I'm just a fool.” But I just kept trying, kept praying. Even with weak faith I kept praying. Then she gave her life to Christ, and she was baptized today. I will never doubt the power of prayer again.
Sometimes when we pray we feel like our prayers aren't going past the ceiling – so we stop praying. We stop believing that God cares or that He will act, so we give up. We quit knocking. (Sermoncentral illustrations/ Rodney Buchanan)
I went by one of our church member's house the other day and knocked on the door and at first it seemed like no one was home, so I knocked louder, and I kept on knocking and knocking and sure enough after a while he came and answered the door. It is rude to go to a friends house and knock one time and leave. That is a sign you didn't really want to be there in the first place. Have you ever had a person call and the phone rang once and they hung up? If you want God's attention, you must keep knocking on the door! God responds to perseverance.
There are never “unanswered prayers” you may not like the answer, but He answers them all. He says “yes” sometimes he says “no”, and sometimes he says “wait”
We knock on our Father's door, like a child knocks on their parents door after moving away and returning home for Christmas. Both Parent and child are expecting one another. They expect their children coming and the children expect them home. We request from God the same way a child requests from their father. Why would a good father deny any good thing from his children? HE WONT! EVER! The keyword is “good” but if a child asks to play with a sharp knife or a poisonous snake, or the barrel end of loaded gun, a good Father will say “No”! God has our good in mind. He can see those things that can hurt or hinder us, whenever we are asking for them and he wisely says 'no' but if any good thing is prayed for with tenacity and faith; rest assured it will NOT be denied you!
The door may be shut by sin and unbelief, but the good thing about a door is that it was made to open, or why have a door in the first place? Why not have a wall? Praise God He made gates to heaven! If we believe, then the gate opens up. If we don't believe the gate shuts tight. There have been many great Christians who confess to not finding peace until they prayed not for hours or days, but for months and years. It takes persistence. It take s tenacity. And Yes, It takes work. Is any good thing ever gained without working for it? If it is, it is never appreciated. You know the old saying “No pain, No gain”
Knock on God's door like a man who takes his hard hat and work boots and clocks in to goes to work! Some things may take longer than others, but just keep knocking and knocking and knocking.
When Buster Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson in the epic upset in Tokyo. Buster Douglas recalled what he had learned from his Father. He once told him “that no matter how big that tree may be, if you keep chopping, and swinging, and throwing that axe at it, one blow after another, sooner or later, that great big Oak tree. . . WILL . . FALL . . DOWN!
When you pray, pray that un-needed things would drop from your desire to pray for them. Pray that needed things would become desired things. We know that He will give us the desires of our heart, if our will is in line with his.
Ill. E. Stanley Jones made an appropriate analogy, He mentioned that prayer is surrender. Surrender comes on our part not Gods. If we are on a boat and throw a hook and rope on to the shore and pull, do we pull the land to the boat, or do we pull the boat to the land? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God. (E. Stanley Jones, Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome, K Hughes, Tyndale, 1988 p. 73)
Stand on promises, remind God of those promises. Say “remember this word unto your servant upon which you have caused me to hope.”
YOU WILL GET THE BLESSING!
