Receiving What We Ask For
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 seeks finds;
and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Scripture
Jesus speaks on
the Sermon on the Mount on multiple topics. Read what he says about
the Heavenly Father giving gifts in Matthew 7:7-11.
Ask Seek Knock
There is a
progression built into this passage. While it is repeating the idea
that God will answer prayer it also builds upon the previous
thought. Each step in the progression demonstrates a deeper
relationship with God.
Ask
– You can ask anyone, anything. If you ask a stranger on the street
what time it is, they will likely tell you. No relationship is
needed to ask a person a question. The nature of the question and
our relationship with the person will determine the answer we get.
While we can ask a stranger for the time and get a positive
response, we would not get a positive response if we ask for $20.
If we ask a friend for $20 we are more likely to get a favorable
response. We can ask anything of God but our relationship with him
determines the response.
How does your
relationship with God affect what you ask Him for?
Seek
– You can seek anyone or anything but you have to know what you are
seeking. If you lose money, you won’t seek for it unless you know
it is lost. You also need to know where to look for something when
you seek it. If you are seeking your car keys, you know that
searching for them in the dishwasher probably isn’t going to help.
When we seek God in prayer, we recognize that He is the one who can
provide what we are looking for.
Do you know what
you are seeking? Do you know where to find it?
Knock
– We don’t let strangers in our homes too often, certainly not in
this day and age, but God says that if we knock he will open the
door. The only people we are likely to allow in our house are
friends. This implies fellowship with God. If we go to God in
order to fellowship with Him he will never reject our request. But
if we are living our lives like we do not know God and are no friend
of His, should we expect God to welcome us as a friend of His?
Are we a friend
of God that He will let us in and not treat us like a stranger when
we knock?
One more step
Which one of
you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he
asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, though you are
evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more
will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
Matthew 7:9-10
This is a fourth
progression in relationship. We started with anybody we encounter,
then someone we knew enough about to search for, then somebody we
knew well enough to let us in their house. We end with a healthy
family relationship. Not everyone has a strong relationship with
their father or the rest of their family but God is the ideal Father
who wants to have a quality relationship with us. Likewise, we
should want a quality relationship with Him.
When we have a
relationship with God we can expect that He, as our Heavenly Father,
will give us good gifts when we ask. This isn’t a blank check for
anyone to grab. It is not by coincidence that the term Father is
used. An actual ongoing relationship with God is a requisite for a
person to lay hold of this claim.
I believe that
often Christians don’t have their prayers answered because they
don’t have a true relationship with God. If we don’t speak to our
parents for a long time and then call when we run into trouble how
likely are they to bail us out?
These requests
aren’t just anything but these are for needs. If you look above at
the previous chapter (Matthew 6) you’ll see that Jesus is speaking
about trusting God for your daily needs. If you ask God for a new
job because you don’t like your current one this verse isn’t a
promise that God will give you what you ask because you may not need
a new job – but if God decides you need a new job, then He will
answer your prayer according to His promise.
Adapted from
“With Christ in the School of Prayer” by Andrew Murray
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