How to Pray the Bible Way

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Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Monday, October 6th. Today, we begin a two-week study on what the Bible teaches about talking and listening to God. Here’s part one of learning to pray the Bible way.

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When you pray, do you do so with confidence and assurance that God is going to hear and answer your prayer? Or rather, are you harassed by such thoughts as, I’m so unworthy. I feel so guilty for the past. Could God ever answer my prayer? Full of doubts, full of anxiety, sense of unworthiness, frustration, and oftentimes get up and walk away thinking, well, what’s the use of praying anyway? In fact, on the scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your prayer life as far as specific answers to prayer? Well, all of us have struggled at one point or the other in prayer. And I believe if you listen carefully today, you’re going to find a simple message that will help you in your faith, in your talking to God. The title of this message is Learning to Pray the Bible Way. And I want you to turn, if you will, to Matthew chapter 7, verses 7 through 11, one of the simplest passages on prayer in all the Bible found in the Sermon on the Mount. And I remember it is the first passage on prayer that I have memorized. I still know it by heart, just like you know your favorite ones. And in the midst of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, beginning in verse 7, Verse 2. Verse 3. Or if he shall ask for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask him? Now, there are three aspects of this passage that I want us to look at. It’s a very simple passage, but it is profound in the fact that this is the Lord’s teaching as to how to pray. You ask, and it shall be given to you. You seek, and you shall find. You knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives. And he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened. Very simply, Jesus is teaching his followers here that here’s the way you pray. You ask, you seek, you knock. That’s the first three steps. Now, I want us to look at these three words because he says it twice in a different sort of fashion. And they’re all commands. He says, ask, seek, knock when you pray. That is, he says, I’m giving you direction as to how to pray. You don’t sort of wobble in and just say, Lord, you know, I’ve got some needs and I want you to bless him and her. And Lord, the Bible says you are to know what I have need of before I ask. I’m just going to just trust you. And just sort of, you know, we just sort of mosey along and we don’t get out of the business in prayer. Now, one of the reasons Jesus has made this very clear and very specific in the steps he’s given us is because that prayer is not really all that simple when you begin to evaluate it on the one hand. Secondly, prayer isn’t just talking to God. Prayer becomes work. And prayer demands diligence. And when he says, ask, seek, knock, Jesus is saying there is a sequence of events. And there’s something going on here more than just something verbal. Now, why did he put it in that fashion? And why did he not simply say, pray and you will receive, period, and let that be it? Because he wants us to understand the true nature of prayer, that it is more than asking. Because there are times when you and I ask and we don’t get exactly what we ask for. There are times when we ask and there’s a delay. And so Jesus is teaching us here the very vital steps in an effective prayer life. There’s a second thing he’s in the process of teaching us here when he says, ask, seek, and knock. And that is that there are two responsibilities in prayer, God’s responsibility and our responsibility. That is, there is a human side in praying, but there is also a divine side. And you cannot have one without the other. It isn’t all divine, it’s not all human. It is both human and divine. I have a responsibility, God has a responsibility. Then there’s a third primary reason that I think Jesus took the time to explain to them in the simple steps of prayer, and that is this. that one of the most vital ingredients in prayer, and the one that most of us probably overlook and leave out above all the rest, and one of those that is probably the primary reason for the emptiness of our praying and for the few specific answers that we receive and one of the primary reasons that we see God doing so little is that we leave out one vital ingredient in our prayer and that vital ingredient is mentioned here which we’ll note in just a moment now I want you to notice the intensity of the progression here look at what he says he didn’t say just pray he says ask Then he says, see. Then he said, knock. And what he’s saying is… that sometimes when you and I come to Him, there will be times when the only thing there is for us to do is just asking. We are helpless to do anything else. Let’s say that some great tragedy strikes in some other nation and there are many people who are suffering and you and I sense a need to pray for them. That’s the only thing we can do for them is to pray. On the other hand, there are times when that’s all God wants us to do. Be quiet, be still, pray, and don’t make any move. But these two are exceptions to the rule. The times when the only thing we can do is pray is an exception. And the times when God wants us to do nothing but pray is an exception. The general rule for prayer is you ask, you seek, and you knock. Now listen to how he puts it. He says, And you and I know that that’s not sufficient. We’re to become involved in the answer. Then we’re to seek out that answer. And oftentimes in the seeking, we will have to rap on the door of opportunity, or rap on the door that oftentimes looks not like opportunity, but is a clear direction from God, knock on this door. Walk in this direction. Seek out the answer here. And so there is a progression. All of us would like to think that all prayer is is just asking God. Get on your knees, say, Lord, here’s what I need. Thank you in Jesus’ name. Amen. And walk off. But you and I know that that’s not the truth. That there’s sometimes a struggle to know the will of God. Prayer is an active involvement of the person in their relationship with God. And because Jesus Christ has come into our life, and because He’s now become our life and we have this relationship with Him, we have the right and the authority to come to Him and make a request. But the request is only the first step. For example, someone says, well, what I want is a deeper knowledge of the Word of God. I want a deeper understanding of the Word of God. And so you lay your Bible down and you start praying. Lord, give me a deep understanding of the Scriptures. God, I want to understand Your Word. Well, my friend, you can pray all you want to pray. The only way you’re going to get a deeper understanding of this word is not only to ask, but to seek by getting into the word of God. And that’s not enough. You’re going to have to knock on the doors of some scriptures that are going to be very difficult to understand. And so this is the process we’re to go through. Now, he says, the request we’re to make, we’re to make it by asking, seeking, knocking. He says, now, here is the response you can expect. And what he’s doing in this passage is really simply assuring us that our Heavenly Father desires to answer our prayer and will answer our prayer. So I want to ask you again about your own prayer life, and if you had to rate your score 1 to 10, how would you come out on real, genuine, specific answers from God?

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1?

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What about 2?

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3? 4?

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7? 8? Nobody can say 10. That is, God does not answer every single thing the way we expect. I’m going to come back to that in a few moments. Though it’s interesting, as best I read the Gospels, nowhere in the Gospels does Jesus ever discuss unanswered prayer. It’s always answered prayer. Ask and you shall receive. If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. And so Jesus in discussing prayer always alluded to answered prayer because that’s what he desires to do. And what he’s teaching is here is this. The heavenly father is ready to answer your prayer. And it’s all very, very positive. You say, but now wait a minute. is this a blank check that the Lord has given to me? And he simply said, now all you’ve got to do is ask, you fill it in, and I’m going to answer it. When he says, ask and it shall be given. You know, that’s not what it means, but I want you to notice what he says here. What is the response you and I can expect? Notice that in both of these verses, he underscores the assurance of an answer. Now look, ask and what? It shall be given you. That’s a promise of Christ. Seek, ye shall find. Knock, it shall be opened to you. Then he turns right around in verse 8, and in a different fashion, all three of those words in the first verse are all commands in the imperative. In the eighth verse, all participles, that is, he says, everyone who is asking is receiving and seeking, finding, and to him who is knocking, it’s being opened. That is, God is in the process of answering prayer. that is his purpose that’s what all of this is about to assure us that he will indeed answer our prayer now when he says everyone somebody says well what about this everyone does that mean that anybody and everybody can ask seek knock and find no because the whole entire sermon on the mount is addressed to the believers and the followers of christ What he said about fasting and praying and meeting your brother at the altar and not being anxious and being happy about persecution, he’s talking about his own children. And what he’s simply saying is that when you and I ask, what happens? Something begins to happen when we ask and seek and knock. That is, there is a vital element in prayer that most people overlook. And what is that element? Well, what he says in that eighth verse, he says, really in the seventh verse likewise, ask and keep on asking. Seek and keep on seeking. Knock and keep on knocking. That is, there is a continuation. There is a persistence. There is an endurance here. We don’t just ask and then because things look difficult, we stop and we hang it up and we lay it down and we say, well, Lord, I’ve asked you. You don’t seem to be very interested. You don’t seem to be listening. You don’t seem to care. I’ve asked you for a whole month. Nothing’s going on. Why should I keep on praying? That’s why he puts it in these terms. Ask and keep on asking. Seek and keep on seeking. Knock and keep on knocking. He is talking about steadfastness in prayer. Now, if you and I were honest today, more than likely, most of us would have to admit, it is very difficult to bring something before the Lord that you believe He wants you to do, or He wants you to have, or some need, and you ask… And God is silent. And you ask, and you look around, and you don’t see anything happening. This goes on for days, then it gets in for weeks. Then it goes on for months. You say, why in the world would anybody want to keep on talking to God about something when you’ve asked Him day after day, week after week, month after month, and nothing has happened? Now, let’s put it this way. You may not see anything happening, but Jesus said, ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened to you. Either Jesus Christ tells the truth or he doesn’t. And you and I know that he does. And just because there is a lapse of time, a delay in time of our asking and our receiving does not mean that God isn’t doing something or that he’s not answering our prayer. So what you and I may ask is this. Why this emphasis on perseverance? Why does he say ask and keep on asking? Seek and keep on seeking. Knock and keep on knocking. Why this emphasis on perseverance here? Well, because God has built in, He has designed prayer with delays in it. That is, delays in the answer. So because there is delay in your receiving the answer you’re looking for, it doesn’t mean that God’s up there scratching his head trying to figure out what to do. Nor does God sense some reluctance. That is, God isn’t reluctant to answer prayer. God desires to answer prayer. What does he say? Ask, seek, knock. He says it will be given to you. You will find it. It will be open to you. Just keep on asking. Keep on seeking. Keep on knocking. Don’t give up. Don’t stop. Don’t lay it down because the going gets rough and your friends say to you, well, look, if God were going to answer your prayer, he should have answered it by now. It must not be God’s will. Now, all of us have had to face that. We pray for a season, we don’t see anything happening, so our conclusion is it must not be God’s will. My friend, oftentimes it is the will of God, but there are built-in delays. Now, why does God delay? One of the reasons He delays in answer to our prayers, something that would be evident to all of us, and that is if God sees within us attitudes, if He sees in our lifestyle habits, if He sees within us Those attitudes of disobedience, the spirit of rebellion or bitterness or unforgiveness or whatever it might be, what does God do? Does He just shut it all down? No. But He delays the answer for His children. Why? Because He’s a good God and He knows that in order for you… to become the person He wants you to be. You may need exactly what you’re asking for. He may already have it on the rail ready to send your way, but He cannot and He will not until you are in a position spiritually to receive it. So one of the reasons He causes the delay is in order to get us to surface things in our life that are not right, to deal with them so that you and I can enjoy what God wants to give us. There’s some things that I believe all of us ask for in life that God delays because He knows if He gave them at that specific time in our frame of mind, we would make the biggest mess of things imaginable. So He delays. A second reason we ask, time goes by, nothing happens is, that God is in the process of testing our earnestness. That is, how badly do we want it? And not in order for Him to find out how badly we want it, because He already knows. But if someone comes to you and says, would you do so and so for me? And you say, no. And they never say anything about it again. You say, well, they certainly must not have been very… Very concerned about that because they only asked me once and so they asked me nonchalantly. I wonder how God responds when you and I come to Him and we say, Lord, here’s my need. You know it’s a desperate need, Lord. I mean, on Sunday night you get down to praying and it’s a desperate need. Monday it’s still pretty bad and Tuesday it’s still there and by Friday… It’s sort of gotten lost in all the rest of the week and all the rest of the things that have been going on. Do you understand why He said, ask and keep on asking, seek and keep on seeking, knock and keep on knocking? To build into us an earnest spirit. For example, if I want to see someone saved for whom I’m praying, and I just pray a few times and stop praying, I don’t want to see them saved very badly. If I did, I would keep on asking, as I can name some people that I pray for daily, God, I’m trusting you to save them and show me what to say and show me how to say it and show me how to confront them. If we’re really earnest, we’re not going to ask one time and give it up. And that’s why he says, pray and keep on praying and keep on asking and keep on seeking and keep on knocking. Persevere, don’t give up, endure, hang in there, though you don’t see any evidence that God’s going to answer your prayer. How many testimonies have I heard, especially of wives, who said, I prayed for my husband 10 years, 15 years, 20 years before he was saved. Suppose they said after the first week of marriage. Forget that. But in that woman’s diligent pursuit of God… Based on a hungering, thirsting, yearning burden to see her husband’s life changed to the glory of God. Not to make her marriage easier, but to save his soul. God answered her prayer. He said, why would God take 20 years? Because God respects the human decision-making process in every single one of us. And our rebellious spirit, though God will put tremendous pressure upon us, the final decision is ours. So there are delays. So let me ask you a question. The last time you brought something to God and it was absolutely critical and urgent, red flags flying and red lights flashing in heaven over your need, how long did you pray? Did it sort of fizzle out within two weeks? Then ask yourself the question, what degree of concern really drove me to God? Or did you just stop praying and decide, I’ll work this out somehow my way. Maybe God will sort of help me do it. He says, ask and keep on asking. Seek and keep on seeking. Knock and keep on knocking. He says, because God is going to answer your prayer.

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Thank you for listening to Learning to Pray the Bible Way. For more inspirational messages like this one, visit our online 24-7 station. And if you’d like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.