Tag Archives: 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)

A commentary on these verses in The People’s New Testament says this: “The terms are here used with reference to prayer, and these constitute a climax.  Ask implies a simple petition.  Seek indicates an earnest search.  Knock shows perseverance in spite of hindrances.  The three represent earnest prayer.”

Discerning sense from nonsense in the topic of prayer tests the patience of even the most stalwart of Christian disciples.  Everyone seems to have an opinion on the topic; and some of these opinions appear contradictory.

In every such instance, return to the simple words of our Christ: Ask.  Seek.  Knock.

God knows what we want before we ask, but He is, nevertheless, delighted by the petitions of His children; in the manner of a young child who always takes all of her joys, concerns, and hurts to her father’s ear, because, “My daddy can do anything!”  – Luther

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“In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”  (Proverbs 3:6, NASB)

If it is true that we make trouble for ourselves because, as J. B. Phillips titled his classic book, “Your God is Too Small”; the same might also be said because we think some matters of our life are too small for our heavenly Father’s attention.

We ought to accept the biblical challenge to acknowledge God in everything — large and small — whether in decisions or in giving thanks.

Through the Holy Spirit — Whom Jesus Himself referred to as the “Helper” — we have a companion who knows well the path; we have an intercessor who knows the mind of God; we have an energizer to sustain us; a teacher to educate us.

However, the Helper helps only by invitation.  If we do not have, it is only because we have not asked.  – Luther

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“‘Why are you sleeping?” he asked them.  ‘Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.'”  (Luke 22: 46, NIV)
 
The most compelling temptation is not the urge to do something that is wrong, but it is the urge to do something that is good but falls far short of excellent.  It is the urge to settle for the near-term tactical advantage at the expense of the strategic victory.
Sleeping is not a bad thing.  It is while we sleep that our bodies repair, refresh and regenerate.  However, in today’s scripture verse, something was happening that called for a response from the disciples that sleeping could never deliver.
To choose to pray is to aspire to see the world as God sees the world.  In prayer, we avoid temptations to settle for anything less than God’s will in the challenges we confront each day.  – Luther
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