And so I tell you, 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. Luke 11:9
When a person puts God first and actively seeks to honor Him with their life, it changes the way they pray. Instead of praying the same repetitive prayers over and over, their pursuit of God becomes different. They no longer see prayer as sharing a laundry list of things they need God to do: bless my food, take care of my needs, and heal my grandma's toe. Their prayer life becomes alive with requests that God use them to accomplish even more.
Knowing this, when Jesus taught His disciples how to pray, He encouraged them to be relentless in their prayer life. He wanted them to continue to ask the Father in heaven to move on their behalf. Jesus encouraged them to keep seeking for His intersection in our world. He challenged them to knock on the door of heaven continually, and it is then when the door will be opened. Jesus knew it was the disciple's job to ask, seek, and knock. And then it was God's responsibility to open it and make a way. After Jesus ascended into heaven, they began to pray. They were praying not for their own needs, but they were praying for God to move in power. They are asking God for great boldness to make Him known. The pages of the book of Acts drip with big, hairy, audacious prayers. When they don't see answers, they would pray even harder. Through their prayers, people were freed from prison, whole families were reached with the gospel, and a movement started that spread the name of Jesus to the utter ends of the earth.
If we took an inventory of your prayer life, what would it look like? Would it be the same old repetitive prayers, or is it alive? Your prayer life is directly proportional to your faith life. When people believe that God can do what seems impossible, it changes everything. They look beyond their own circumstances, the ups and downs, and feelings, believing that God is able to intervene. How much faith do you have in Him?
If you want to move toward action today, make a list of unsafe prayer requests. The word "unsafe" doesn't seem to fit with the phrase "prayer requests," but we want you to stretch outside of mundane and regular things to how God might dramatically change your world if He showed up. It may be that you pray that God would use you to lead a serving team at Sagebrush. It could be that you ask God to use you to share Christ with your whole neighborhood. You might even want to ask God for the strength to go on a mission trip to reach those who are far from God. Don't pray small prayers. Pray the ones that make the evil one sweat! See you in church this weekend!
Once Jesus was in a certain place praying. As he finished, one of his disciples came to him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
Jesus said, “This is how you should pray:
“Father, may your name be kept holy.
May your Kingdom come soon.
Give us each day the food we need,
and forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us.
And don’t let us yield to temptation.”
Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence.
“And so I tell you, 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.
“You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not!
