“Everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds;and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened” Matthew 7:8
INTRODUCTION
Today’s blog is about prayer, I will share a couple of parables of Jesus after he taught his disciples how to pray.
We call this prayer, the Lord’s Prayer. I hope to illustrate the importance of prayer, our role, God’s role and what faith filled expectations should look like.
The picture above illustrates that long before we seek out Jesus, Jesus is already knocking at our door, pleading with us to let him enter. “Seek that you may be found” is ironic but true. It is our seeking the Way, the Truth, and the Life, that facilitates God’s unending search for us ever since Eden. Our merciful Father has gone out of His way to bring us home again, even death on the cross.
MATTHEW 7:7-12 ASK AND IT WILL BE GIVEN TO YOU; SEEK AND YOU WILL FIND
“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; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which one of you would hand his son a stone when he asks for a loaf of bread, or a snake when he asks for a fish? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask Him….
REFLECTION:
Sometimes an answer to prayer is delayed but never ignored…God’s time is not always the same as ours….but his timing may be better… a physician knows better than the sick person what he needs for healing…our natural instincts may need the help of supernatural grace to see more clearly…
We may not always receive what we ask for…but we will always be blessed by God with what we need….Do we recognize God’s gifts as from a truly loving Father…Do we accept His gifts even if they are not exactly what we asked for…after our petitions do we ever attach, but Thy will be done… if I as parent do good things to my children…how much more will my heavenly Father do for me…
We might not always hear God’s voice back to us but He hears us and is pleased by our faith…He always responds…but sometimes the voice is a whisper or some unexpected event or insight…
God waits patiently for our approach…He is always near…always hovering in the background…turn around and you will run right into Him…knock and the door will be opened…do I approach the door…do I hesitate…do I knock…am I ready to engage…
God does not hide from His children. His heart’s desire is for us to persistently and passionately look for Him all around us, the more time a Christian spends in communion with God, the more he or she will know what to ask for in accordance with God’s will….. “Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
SILENT PRAYER
LUKE 11: 5-13 And Jesus said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend to whom he goes at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer him, ’and he says in reply from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked and my children and I are already in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything. I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.”
PRAY ALWAYS!
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