Key Verse: “Who among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him.” (Matthew 7:9-11 CSB)
Prayer is one of the greatest privileges of knowing God through faith in Jesus Christ. If you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, you have access to the One who created and sustains life. You can at any time confidently approach the throne of God and know that He will listen to what you have to say. He’s never too busy or far away. Instead, He invites and eagerly waits for us His children to call upon Him in faith whenever and wherever we are.
As Jesus continues His teaching in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7, He invites us to consider how we approach God. It begins with a call to action on our part. “Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you” (v.7), Jesus says. The words “ask,” “seek,” and “knock,” are all an invitation to turn to God. But they also seem to indicate a growing sense of urgency and intensity in the way in which we approach Him.
Jesus wants us to pray. He expects it to happen as a part of a healthy relationship with Him. But prayer is not some dull and apathetic act of duty that we try to squeeze into our busy schedules whenever we can or whenever we feel like we have no other option. There ought to be some urgency to prayer. Our life of prayer ought to be marked by passion, persistence, and perseverance.
When we do pray, we also need to do so with the expectation that God is going to answer. Jesus says that when we ask, we will receive. When we seek, we will find. When we knock, the door will be opened to us (v.8). The idea being conveyed is that when we turn to God in prayer, we can expect Him to respond. It may not be the answer we wanted or as quickly as we were expecting, but it’s going to happen.
To help us understand why Jesus uses an illustration of a son asking His father for some bread or fish to eat. Jesus tells us that in a situation like this, a loving father is not going to give his son stones or a snake to eat. What kind of father would do something as cruel and awful as that? Instead, a loving father will take care of his children and meet their needs.
The point is that if sinful human fathers know how to take care of their children, how much more will our Father in Heaven take care of His children. Because God is a perfect Father and loves His children far more than we could ever comprehend, we can expect Him to answer our prayers. When we passionately and persistently seek God through prayer, we can know that He will surely answer according to His perfect will and timing and “give good things to those who ask” (v.11).
How would you describe your prayer life right now? When you pray, do you do so passionately? Are you persevering in prayer regardless of your circumstances? Are you praying with faith expecting that God will answer?
God’s invitation to each of us is this: “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you greater and incomprehensible things you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3). Take some time to do that today.
Prayer: I thank you God that you are a perfect and loving Father. When I turn to you in prayer, you have promised to answer me and to give to me all the good things that I truly need. Teach me how to pray with passion and persistence. Fill me with greater faith as I turn to you. Amen.
