Matthew 7:7-11
The one who has received the message of the Sermon on the Mount is well aware of the demands of discipleship and our incapability of meeting them without heavenly assistance. Here is a teaching to assist in prevailing prayer that transforms a believer.
The instruction in this text should not be lifted from its context in the Sermon and abused. A text without a context is pretext.
Jesus tells us how to pray for the character of the kingdom in our lives.
In other words, what if prayer is not about requests, but relationship?
People who feel they have been wounded by God are seldom swayed by theology.
Matthew 6:9-15 shares the content and authority of prayer while Matthew 7:7-11 speaks of assurance in prayer.
The promise of Matthew 7:7-11 is not a blank check to be cashed in by a worldly and selfish individual.
I. Perseverance and Prevailing Prayer v.7
“Ask” implies asking for a conscious need.
“Seek,” involves asking but adds action.
“Knock” includes asking, acting, and persevering.
Things We Desire from God from Different Perspectives:
1. We “ask” for what we wish.
2. We “seek” for what we miss.
3. We “knock” for access to some place or thing.
We are to passionately persist in prayer for that which we need to be used by God.
We are to keep on asking, seeking, and knocking for those things that will make us more like Jesus.
II. The Promise of Prevailing Prayer v.8
Prayer does not change God’s purpose, create His desire to give or persuade Him to give; it opens the way for Him to give.
III. The Passion of the Provider of Prevailing Prayer v.9-11.
“how much more” - Jesus reasons from the “lesser to the greater” to demonstrate God’s unfailing care for his own children.
We do not always know what is best for us.
You will not be satisfied in prayer if you only feel God answers when you get what you wanted.
NOTES
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