After a short foray into the prayers of OT saints, we move on to the prayers of Jesus. After a short (3 part) series on the teaching of prayer in the Sermon on the Mount, we will close the series next week by looking at the prayers of Jesus during the final week of his life. (MK)
Day #31: “Sermon on the Mount Part 1: Ask Your Father” (Dave Snoke)
1 John 5:14-15
“And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.”
Matthew 7:7-11
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”
The New Testament has many verses like these, that tell us to ask God expectantly, with the attitude that he loves to give his people good gifts. Sometimes Christians get discouraged, however, in having the experience of asking God for something that he does not give. That might lead some people to not ask boldly: “Whatever you want to do, God, just go ahead and do it!” I remember a fellow telling me years ago that he had a Presbyterian friend who came to visit him in the hospital, and prayed, “God, if it is your will, heal him, but if not, let him die.” Then a Baptist friend came and prayed, “God, we call out as your children, please heal him!” My friend said, “I felt better after the Baptist prayer!”
We do have to be careful not to think that if we ask something in the proper way, it will force God to do it, like a cosmic machine with a special unlock code. That is a type of “shamanism”—trying to use a magic formula to get what we want. God is a Person, and as such, has his own free will and cannot be forced to do our will. But that doesn’t mean we should view his actions as random! Like a good father, he delights to give us good things, and to do things that bless his church collectively. For a small child, it may seem that the parents’ actions are random— “sometimes I get what I ask for, and sometimes not!” —but a good parent actually has a plan for good, including often giving children what they like.
There is an analogy with evangelism. We cannot say that if we do evangelism just right, we will force people to become Christians. Only God can change a heart. But God tells us that if we talk openly of the Gospel, he will bless it, and hearts will be changed. “Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.” (John 4:35) Like a farmer, we plant seeds, but God gives the growth. We don’t know that every seed will grow, but we know that sowing seeds leads to harvest. In the same way, we know that sowing prayers leads to God’s blessing both for us and for his church. God is not committed to always giving us health and wealth, but he does love to do what leads to blessing among his people. In both evangelism and prayer, God involves us in the process of his blessings.