Ask Seek Knock
Memorial Day Weekend 2024
Jesus encourages us to pray. The passage says God will answer our prayers all the time, but it doesn't feel like we always get what we want.
- why didn't God heal my family member?
- why didn't I get that job?
- why do I feel this pain?
Some people go to God trying to make a deal. "If you do X for me, then I'll do Y for you."
Our greatest struggle with prayer is that we make it our last resort.
Luke 11:5-10 NLT
[5] Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, [6] ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ [7] And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ [8] But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence. [9] “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. [10] For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
God wants us to confidently come to him with our needs
Jesus is not saying you need to badger God to answer your prayers.
When we pray we come to our father
Matthew 7:11 NLT
[11] So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.
Sometimes God says no because it is the best thing for us
1 John 5:14-15 NLT
[14] And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. [15] And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.
Children live in the moment, but parents have the bigger picture.
We shouldn't be fearful that God won't give us what we want, but we should be confident that he will give us what is best for us.
Our heavenly father > our earthly father
Our heavenly Father will correct our prayer, and give us, not what we ignorantly seek, but what we really need. The promise to give what we ask is here explained, and set in its true light. This is a gracious correction of the folly which would read the Lord's words in the most literal sense, and make us dream that every whim of ours had only to put on the dress of prayer in order to its realization. Our prayers go to heaven in a Revised Version. It would be a terrible thing if God always gave us all we asked for. Our heavenly Father himself 'knows how to give' far better than we know how to ask"
- C. H. Spurgeon
Jesus wants us to ask
Matthew 7:7-8 NLT
[7] “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. [8] For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
See something pray something
Romans 1:9-10 NLT
[9] God knows how often I pray for you. Day and night I bring you and your needs in prayer to God, whom I serve with all my heart by spreading the Good News about his Son. [10] One of the things I always pray for is the opportunity, God willing, to come at last to see you.
Paul kept knocking, and eventually the door was opened.