OUR CERTAINTY IN PRAYER
“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. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matthew 7:7–8, NLT)
And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure. (James 4:3, NLT)
Jesus’ words are so simple here, yet so profound. These words are a promise from our Lord Jesus directly to us -- His followers. “Keep on asking,” He says, “and you will receive what you ask for.” And we wonder in our hearts, "Really Jesus?" Do you really mean that? Because I've prayed and haven't seen an answer. I've asked and haven't yet received what I have asked for. In fact, in some ways I have given up on prayer.
But Jesus speaks into our doubt. He speaks different words, with the same meaning. Perhaps a subtle rebuke to our lack of faith, “Keep on seeking,” He says, “and you will find." Again we might ask, "Really? Jesus are you sure?" You want me to keep asking? Perhaps even drop what I am doing and move into the place of actively seeking the Father and calling out to Him for an answer? Yes!
Jesus speaks again. His words are like a drop of encouragement in the dried up well of our faith. "Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you." Yes, my dear one, ask! And if you don't receive, then stop your activity and seek Him! If you don't find then drop what is in your hands and knock with both fists if you have to! But keep on asking!
Then Jesus gives a promise. It is a promise we can depend on. A dangerous promise. A powerful promise. An incredible promise. “For everyone who asks, receives.” Yes, everyone. Including you. “And everyone who seeks, finds.” If you pause everything and seek Him -- if you really and truly seek His face, you will find Him. “And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”
You see, every prayer has two parts. There is the request and the answer. There is the human seeker and the Divine giver. And Jesus implies here that every ask will have an answer. The two halves make up a whole. They go together. It is as if He is telling us not to rest without an answer, because it is the will of God -- it is a general family rule -- that everyone who asks will receive.
Sometimes we give up praying because it is far easier to give up and submit to our flesh than it is to yield to a process of prayer where God will purify us and search us and confront us with our sin and make us more like Him while He waits to answer our prayer. You see, the ask will change us. The seeking will refine us. The knocking will purify us. And we give up sometimes, because we don't want that. With God, an easy ask does not necessarily lead to an easy answer.
Sometimes we ask and the answer is No... or Wait. Moses asked to go into the Promised Land and God said no. But he got his answer. Jesus asked the Father to remove the cup of suffering from Him and the Father said no. But He got His answer. Yet He yielded himself to the will of the Father saying, “Not My will, but Yours be done.”
As we seek God with each request, we need wisdom to know if we are praying according to His will. And sometimes we need to say to Him, “Not my will but Yours be done.” But most often we need to press in and persevere until the answer arrives, be it a year or twenty. All the while trusting the promise of Jesus who simply said, “you will receive...”
What is God saying to me today?
My Prayer List:
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Personal Prayer:
Father God, as I come before You and bring each request to Your throne, help me not to be afraid of the purifying work that You may want to do in my heart. Help me not to withdraw from You if the answer takes time. Help me to press in by faith, including confession of sin and submission to You, as You soften my heart. Help me to keep praying until I receive from You the answer that You have ordained. In Jesus’ name, Amen.