October 18, 2015
Morning Service

Matt. 7:⁷ “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. ⁹ Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? ¹¹ If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!                                                         

    Matthew has already shown us how to pray in chapter 6 and here we are encouraged to use prayer when we need something. After all if we want something of God prayer is our avenue to contact him. Prayer is our direct link to God, it’s how we commune with him. Can you imagine not having a line of communication with your father growing up. Prayer seems to be the one thing that nearly all religions have in common, it’s just not to the same deity. The Bible is full of commands to pray. We are told to pray for those that misuse us, pray in secret, pray to avoid temptation, pray for the sick, pray without ceasing, fast and pray, pray in suffering, pray with thanksgiving, pray for one another.

      In the first verse there are three action words that we are told to practice…ask…seek…knock. I love what Matthew Henry says on this passage of scripture:    Prayer is the appointed means for obtaining what we need. Pray; pray often; make a business of prayer, and be serious and earnest in it. Ask, as a beggar asks alms. Ask, as a traveler asks the way. Seek, as for a thing of value that we have lost; or as the merchantman that seeks goodly pearls. Knock, as he that desires to enter into the house knocks at the door. Sin has shut and barred the door against us; by prayer we knock. Whatever you pray for, according to the promise, shall be given you, if God see it fit for you, and what would you have more? This is made to apply to all that pray aright; every one that asketh receiveth, whether Jew or Gentile, young or old, rich or poor, high or low, master or servant, learned or unlearned, all are alike welcome to the throne of grace, if they come in faith. It is explained by a comparison taken from earthly parents, and their readiness to give their children what they ask. Parents are often foolishly fond, but God is all-wise; he knows what we need, what we desire, and what is fit for us. Let us never suppose our heavenly Father would bid us pray, and then refuse to hear, or give us what would be hurtful.           When I was growing up there were many beggars, hitch hikers, hobos or whatever you want to call them that passed by our home. Living on a major highway it wasn’t uncommon to have one knock on our door asking for food, maybe as often as a couple times a month. I remember well my mom fixing fried bologna or hot dogs or fried egg sandwiches for a passing hobo. To my knowledge she never turned one away without something to eat. Those people were traveling across country, many times down on their luck and they had nothing but the cloths on their backs and maybe a bed roll or an old suitcase. Going to a stranger’s door to ask for assistance was humbling I’m sure but it offered hope. MH says that sin has shut the door. We are told in James 5:16 The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 1 Peter 3: ¹² For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers; But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.

    You know not every hobo that came to the door could be trusted. There were stories of some beggars robbing people and homes. The sins of a few caused many doors to be shut for fear that all beggars were the same. Sin has shut the door between us and God and we have to knock and ask as a beggar. But we need to be diligent as that hungry beggar. James 4:2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.   If that hungry wanted food he had no choice but to approach a home and knock on the door and ask. And I remember they wouldn’t just knock lightly and pass on with just a short knock. They would knock earnestly and loudly and yes persistently until someone answered. If we want to enter the house we need to be persistent and knock until the door is opened. Seek… a treasure hunter doesn’t just “look” for treasure he seeks it out. He looks earnestly. He looks into all options, goes over maps, studies any and all information related to the treasure he seeks. In other words he puts much effort into it, he concentrates his energy toward the goal he seeks. It isn’t something he takes lightly. Prayer is a very important tool Christians have been entrusted with. The armor of God in Ephesians 6 is finalized with ¹⁸ praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—            James 5: ¹⁵ And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ¹⁶ Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. ¹⁷ Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. ¹⁸ And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.    

   1 John 5: ¹⁴ Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. ¹⁵ And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.    

 We have numerous examples of Jesus praying. He prayed for the children brought to him, he prayed for others Simon Peter for one, he prayed alone, he prayed when he was troubled and many other examples. The point is he just didn’t tell us to pray but he practiced what he preached. Then he said the following which sums up what we’ve been speaking about…    Luke 18: 1 Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, ² saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. ³ Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ ⁴ And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, ⁵ yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’” ⁶ Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. ⁷ And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?

Persistence in prayer…Ask…Seek…Knock and don’t give up, keep asking, seeking and knocking.