PASSION IN PRAYER

 

TEXT:  “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Matt. 7:7; see also verses 8-11) 

 

THOUGHT:  We owe it to God, to our fellow men, and to ourselves to develop lives of prayerfulness.  In the passage before us, Jesus teaches three things about this passion in prayer:

 

I.   Intensity in Prayer.  “Ask…seek…knock” (v.7).  These words occur both in the Gospel

     of  Matthew and in Luke.  In each context the emphasis is on

     persistency and intensity in prayer.  The very words, “ask,” “seek,” and “knock”

     suggest a progression of passion in prayer.  Asking has to do with requesting in

     prayer (see James 4:2-3; Philippians 4:6).  Seeking has to do with the art of

     researching in prayer.  Paul speaks of this seeking of the Lord’s will in that classic 

     passage in  Romans 8:26-27.  Knocking has to do with resisting in prayer.  If there is a

     door between God and us, then it is of human or satanic origin; and this level of prayer

     calls us to break through such barriers to fellowship with God in prayer.

 

II.  Fidelity in Prayer.  “Everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him

     who knocks it will be opened.” (v.8)  The present continuous tense is the significant

     emphasis of our Savior’s words.  He is teaching fidelity in prayer.  This should be true

     of our activity in prayer as well as our attitude in prayer.  Our mind-set should reflect

     this readiness for prayer at any time, anywhere, at any cost.

 

III.  Expectancy in Prayer.  “What man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread,

       will give him a stone?…How much more will your Father who is in heaven give

       good things to those who ask Him!” (vv.9 & 11)  Here are words which fire

       expectancy and faith.  The Master is describing the goodness and faithfulness of God

       His Father.  Arguing from the lesser to the greater, He shows that if mere men can

       fulfill their children’s request, how much more shall the Heavenly Father give good

       things to them that ask him.  Luke’s version of the “good things” is the Holy Spirit

       Himself (see Luke 11:13) who enables us to pray.

 

THRUST:  There is nothing that can block,

                    Holy prayer in Jesus’ Name;

                    Let us then “ask, seek, and knock,”

                    As God’s promises we claim.

                                                                  S.F.O.