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Construction of a Prayer Life (Matthew 7:7-12)
12 Plays2 months ago
Let’s look at what Jesus taught regarding the construction of a strong prayer life in Matthew 7:7-12. By chapter 7, Matthew had already recorded several times that Jesus referred to the prayer life of His men. He mentions prayer in the Gospel of Matthew 16 times. The Bible uses the term pray or prayer 316 times.
For example, Matthew wrote in chapter six where Jesus gives us the model prayer, “And when you pray…” (v. 5), “But when you pray…” (v. 6), “And when you pray…” (v. 7) and of course, the infamous, “Pray then like this…” (v. 9).
The passage we are going to look at today will give us a blueprint for laying a secure foundation for a lifetime of prayer along with an effective framework for raising upon it as large a structure as you are committed to build. Matthew 7:7-12 gives you the direction you are looking for! So, like His disciples asked Him, we ask You, Lord, “Lord, teach us to pray…” (Luke 11:1).
Petition, vs. 7-8
“Ask” mentioned 5x in this passage
Pursuit, vs. 7-8
“seek”
Patience, vs. 7-8
“knock”
Persistence, vs. 7-8
Each of these verbs are present imperatives calling for continuous action. Note also the ascending intensity of the three verbs.
Promise, vs. 7-8
God may not answer prayer according to our wishes, but He will answer it according to His will and His timing. Check out Exodus 32:7-14 where God spared His people because Moses stood on His promise.
Participants, v. 8
Is this written to a select group of Christ’s followers? I love how the Lord slides the invitation list in so smoothly at the beginning of v. 8 with the exciting words, “For everyone who asks…” Cool!
Positive Incentive, vs. 9-11
The Father longs for us to talk to Him about our lives, our needs, our challenges, etc. This being the case, why would He give us something bad when we pray? No, Jesus says quite clearly, “…how much more will your Father who is in Heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”
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Growing in Grace Devotions and Inspirations
Hosted by Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church
1700 Milam Street
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
http://fbccolumbustx.org/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to 'Growing in Grace'
00:00:08
Speaker
Welcome to Growing in Grace with Pastor Victor Morrison. This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas. We are praying that God will bless you as you listen to this message.
Church Information and Resources
00:00:22
Speaker
If you would like additional information on worship times and ministries at FBC Columbus, you can find out more at our website, FBCColumbusTX.org. And now take your copy of God's timeless word as Pastor Victor gives today's message.
00:00:43
Speaker
Welcome to Growing in Grace.
Developing a Strong Prayer Life
00:00:45
Speaker
My name is Pastor Victor Morrison. I serve at First Baptist Church in Columbus, Texas. I'm so glad you're with us. We're going to look today at Matthew, Chapter 7, verses 7 through 12. I believe that it's going to tell us how we can construct a strong prayer life. You know, by Matthew 7, Matthew had already recorded several times that Jesus referred to the prayer life of his men. He mentions prayer in his gospel 16 times. The Bible as a whole mentions that word prayer or pray
00:01:20
Speaker
316 times. So prayer is not like a side issue. It's not something that is optional, unimportant, or whatever. Even in this ah chapter that precedes Matthew 7, if you were to look through ah Matthew 6, you would discover, oh, there's the model prayer, the Lord's Prayer. And so that's a powerhouse passage all by itself.
00:01:44
Speaker
But I couldn't help but notice in a fresh way, getting ready for this message, how over there in Matthew 6, not where we're going to be in Matthew 7, but in Matthew chapter 6, how often the Lord used these words, and when you pray.
00:02:00
Speaker
He said it in Matthew 6, verse 5. He said, but when you pray in Matthew 6, verse 6, and when you pray, verse 7, and pray then like this, verse 9, I think his assumption is his followers are going to be people who pray.
Blueprint for Lifelong Prayer
00:02:18
Speaker
So the passage that we're going to look at today, it's going to provide us with a blueprint for laying a secure foundation for a lifetime of prayer.
00:02:29
Speaker
along with an effective framework, if you will, for raising upon it as large a structure as you or I are committed to build. So Matthew 7, 7 through 12 is going to give us the direction that I think we're looking for whenever we're wanting to improve our prayer life. And so like the disciples, why don't we ask the Lord today, hey, Lord, teach us to pray.
00:02:55
Speaker
So I want us to look at this passage together. Let me read it through first, and then I'm going to give you some of the observations that I had. It says, ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds. And to the one who knocks, it will be opened.
00:03:21
Speaker
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 then you 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?" Wow.
00:03:48
Speaker
Do you spend time praying? You know, I find that a lot of us struggle just being motivated to pray. I read where one man said he thinks a lot of our hindrances that prevent us from ever even stepping in the arena of prayer.
Common Hindrances to Prayer
00:04:04
Speaker
It's related to one of three things.
00:04:06
Speaker
One thing that can happen is maybe we have sort of given up on it. We don't realize it, but we've sort of concluded, I don't really believe that prayer works. So that's one problem. A second problem could be, I don't know how to pray in the right way. So perhaps that's your struggle. And that's where I think ah Jesus is going to really give us some instruction today. But then maybe you are thinking, you know what? I've got so much that I need to do today. I don't have time. but to pray. So maybe compared to other priorities on your list, you conclude, hey, I don't think that prayer is really the best use of my time today. It seems like a waste. But I want you to rethink that. I want you to think about whatever it is that is already on your list, already in your responsibilities. You've got to you've got to do these things. I understand. All I want you to think about is what would happen to those
00:05:04
Speaker
if you spent time with the father and he placed his tailwind behind each one of those. Hey. That could change everything,
Small Acts vs. Impact of Prayer
00:05:13
Speaker
couldn't it? Wow. Well, I don't claim to be some powerhouse prayer warrior or something like that. I'm still a man who's learning from the Lord and saying to him constantly, teach me ah how to pray, just like the disciples did. I mean, even building wise, I'm not a big builder. I thought I was doing great to help my daughter ah build a planter box. She told me she wanted to try one. So I thought, well,
00:05:40
Speaker
Let's build a small one, let you get started with some herbs and so forth. And so we did it and we felt so ah so excited and so fulfilled. We were giving one another high fives and so forth. But I have a good friend and he's not building a planter box ah for his daughter. He's actually building his daughter a new house. And I'm saying he's building it. He's not having it contracted out. He's the one doing it. So anyway, I'm thinking, OK, so maybe a planter box is not all that big.
00:06:10
Speaker
Maybe we need to rethink how big prayer is. Prayer can affect your family. Prayer can in affect your attitude. Prayer can make a difference at work. Prayer can make a difference in our country. There are so many different aspects. So why don't we dig into this passage and let's just get started building. Let's make sure that we're constructing our prayer life on biblical principles.
Prayer as a Conversation
00:06:34
Speaker
Why don't we start with the first one? The first one is really simple. It's the word petition. It's the word petition. I use that word because five times in this short passage that I just read, Matthew 7, verses 7 through 11, five times it uses the word ask.
00:06:55
Speaker
You know, at its simplest form, prayer is having a conversation with the Lord. There are many places we could go to where we would understand, hey, it's not just me asking what I would like for God to do for me, but it's also God speaking to me through His word.
00:07:15
Speaker
by His Holy Spirit. So don't can don't conclude falsely that prayer is a one-way conversation. No, it's two-way. But think about this whole idea of asking of asking. To me, when I think about asking, I think of humility. You know, it's a humbling thing to ask the Lord or to ask anyone for help, isn't it? I don't know if you're like me, but I really feel somewhat bashful or timid about asking people for help.
00:07:46
Speaker
But I don't think we should take that into our prayer closet, into our prayer life. Whenever we're talking to the Lord, we should just tell Him. We should be so excited to tell Him the good things and the difficult things, maybe even the sad things. Whatever is going on in your life, just talk to Him about it. I think that that's where prayer begins. It begins with asking the Lord. Perhaps there's something that you need His intervention in your life right now.
00:08:14
Speaker
Have you really talked to him about it seriously? I really encourage you to do that. I know that many times we put prayer last, but what would happen if, like in this passage, we put prayer first? You did notice ask is the very first word that's in this passage. So let's move from that word ask to the second word that is a verb, and that's the word seek.
00:08:40
Speaker
So when I thought about the word ask, I thought, why don't we give it the name petition? But when I thought about the word seek, it says to me a pursuit. It's like you're on a journey. You're searching for something. You have a passion for something. There's something that's driving you forward and you're you're saying, hey, i I really am looking for your answer on this.
00:09:04
Speaker
I noticed a long time ago in the book of Jeremiah that God says, you will seek me and you will find me when you seek me with all your heart. You know, I really think that God, it says something to him.
00:09:18
Speaker
when we have a ah very sincere desire to know what God's will is and to have God's participation in our life, whatever he's called us to do. And so I really encourage you to think secondly about prayer, not only as asking, but also prayer is as well, seeking. You know, seeking also says to me that I don't know where it is.
00:09:46
Speaker
I'm still looking for it. I'm still asking God for it, but it's not there yet. And so that's why I'm still seeking. Maybe that's how you are in your life. Perhaps you're still looking for direction in your life. Why don't you seek the Lord about that? You know, all my life, God has led me.
00:10:06
Speaker
at all the important decisions in my life. I remember asking him what ah university I was to attend. I asked him what ah seminary I was to attend. I asked him which a person in this world I was to marry, and he answered that.
00:10:24
Speaker
ah He answered all of those all three of those. But then after that, my wife and I went for about 10, 11 years, and we asked him over and over for children. And then God led us to the whole idea of adopting. And so that came forth from him, I really believe, as we were seeking him and asking him for ah his will. All the different places that I've lived in my life,
00:10:53
Speaker
I've always asked him for direction about the best investment, the best location. Where should I live, Lord? Where can I where can i plant my life and start blooming and bearing fruit for you? And he's always answered that prayer, and I'm so thankful that he has.
00:11:09
Speaker
But I don't want you to think that all of these things happen instantly, immediately. So that brings me to the third verb that I noticed in this verses 7 and 8. That's the verb knock.
Persistence in Prayer
00:11:24
Speaker
Knock. you know Ask and seek and knock.
00:11:28
Speaker
You know, when I think about knock, it makes me think, I have to wait. When you go to visit someone at their home, perhaps you knock on the door, or maybe these days you ring the doorbell, but it's the same idea that you're letting them know that you're there, but you still have to wait until that door opens, don't you? You know, it's a hard thing to wait.
00:11:49
Speaker
But many of the Lord's ah parables, let's say, in the Gospel of Luke, a lot of them are ah parables related to prayer, and it relates to a specific aspect of prayer. And it's the aspect of being patient and waiting, because not only does God have the answer that we're looking for, he also has like a schedule, like a timetable. And so we may be right about the content of God's will, but we may be a little bit off on the schedule and the timing of that will. And so I've learned through the years that if he wants me to wait, I'm waiting on someone who will not disappoint me. I'm waiting for someone who really wants to give me his best. And so I encourage you to put that into your prayer
00:12:40
Speaker
um prayer structure that you're building. Put in there, I've got to talk to him, I've got to ask him. I can't assume or presume things. I've actually got to verbalize it and ask him, but I also have to seek him. It may not come right away, and so that's why I also have to keep knocking. I have to knock, and then I have to wait until the time is right when you open that door, and then that's when it's exciting.
00:13:08
Speaker
But then I noticed that um the verbs, the more I tried to do research on these three verbs, I noticed that there was one thing all three had in common. And it leads me to the fourth item that I think we need in our structure about prayer, and that is persistence. It actually says, keep on asking.
00:13:32
Speaker
keep on seeking, keep on knocking. The reason we can translate it that way is because though the words that are used in the Greek are in a certain form. The verb has a certain form and it's called a present imperative. And what it means is continuous action. It's not like I pull into God's drive through window as ah as though I'm asking for a fast food blessing here. And I'm saying, I'll have three blessings to go, please. And I want it right now. And so I'm expecting it's going to come today. It's going to come right now. It's going to come in, well, five minutes, 10 minutes, maybe even one minute.
00:14:16
Speaker
but that's not the way God works. And as a matter of fact, if you if you notice these three words, they actually have kind of like an ascending intensity.
00:14:27
Speaker
where asking seems, well, that's pretty calm, but then seeking is a little more intense than just asking. But then knocking is when you're really saying, hey, I'm really serious. I'm trying to be genuine here, Lord. This is real for me. I would really like to have your involvement and your leadership, your guidance, your provision, whatever it might be. So I just wanted to encourage you you know to consider that God's not saying here, ask one time and then forget it. No, I think he wants he wants that. Corey Timboom used to say, what if the journey was the destination? And and the more I thought about that,
00:15:12
Speaker
The more I saw the depth in her statement, Corey Timboom was placed in a Nazi prison camp. And it's just amazing how God saw her through that time. But she said sometimes that we are always focused on the destination, the answer to the prayer, the provision of the need, the removal of the problem. But, you know, I think God sometimes he's wanting to enjoy the journey with us.
00:15:36
Speaker
I think God likes, get this, I think God likes it when we hang out with him. And so just enjoy the ride. Just enjoy talking to him about it. And so be persistent and keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. Talk to the Lord about it. Seek the Lord about it. Knock on heaven's door. Let him know that this means a lot to you and that you're willing to keep on knocking and keep on seeking and keep on asking until He opens whatever door it is that He has for you.
God's Promise to Answer
00:16:09
Speaker
Well, let's move to a fifth plank that I think ought to be a part of any foundation that we're gonna do, and that is the promises, the promises of Scripture. So yes, we need to be asking, seeking, knocking, but why do we need to ask, seek, or knock? Well, it's right here in verses seven and eight. Let me read it again. Ask.
00:16:32
Speaker
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.
00:16:48
Speaker
Do you see? He's trying to give us this incentive to say, come on, come on, spend time with me, talk to me about it, and see if I don't answer. So he's actually building into this ah this building manual on building a ah strong prayer life. He's trying to put into his instructions.
00:17:09
Speaker
how we need to say, what is God already promised about whatever it is that I'm asking him? And so anyway, I just thought that that's really ah an interesting thing whenever we consider what he's saying here. But I also wanted to point out something that's found in Exodus ah chapter 32 verses 7 through 11. Do you know that there was a time whenever Moses ah and and was saying, okay, God, I'm ready for you to move on with the people and get us over there in the Promised Land. But the people kept getting well-disobedient, and they were kind of ah moving around and disobeying God and so forth. And so the Lord says at one point, you know what? Get out of the way. I'm going to destroy them. But listen to what Moses does.
00:17:57
Speaker
He stands on the promise when he's praying for the people. Moses implored the Lord, this is in Exodus 32, verse 11, but Moses implored the Lord his God and said,
00:18:10
Speaker
O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against Your people, whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, with evil intent did He bring them out to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth?
00:18:31
Speaker
turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self and said to them, I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and all this land that I promised I will give to your offspring and they shall inherit it forever and the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people." Do you see what he did?
Using Scripture in Prayer
00:19:06
Speaker
He actually stood on the promises that God himself had made whenever he was interceding for the people. And so put that in your your prayer life. We've in there scriptures that tell us who God is.
00:19:22
Speaker
that tell us what God's plan is like. What does he want to do? What's he already promised to do? I think that that is a powerful thing whenever God hears me or you or all of us, each of us, when we are saying to God, Lord, here's what you said in your word. I just want you to know,
00:19:42
Speaker
I take that seriously. I want to stand on that. I want to ask if you would fulfill that. And so I think that's a powerful way to pray. But you know, would it be sad if God is sort of saying to everyone, ah okay, I know that you guys would like to be included in prayer,
00:20:01
Speaker
But there's only a select group that I want to pray. And so only those guys. So I've met people in my life before and I thought, wow, I wish I could pray like them. Maybe sometimes that's the way you feel. You feel like I can't pray. I don't know all the all the different you know words to say and so forth. And so maybe you feel like prayer is not really your thing.
00:20:23
Speaker
I just wanted you to know that you are invited. See, the invitation list is written right here in verse 8 when he says, I love that word, everyone.
00:20:42
Speaker
because it tells me the participants who were invited to spend time praying, it's every follower of Jesus Christ. So I thought, thank you God that you want each one of us. So wherever you are, if you're driving down the road, if you're in your home, if you're sitting at your desk, if you're in the gym, wherever you are, I just want you to know that God says, just talk to me.
Invitation to All Believers
00:21:08
Speaker
Just seek me. Just knock on heaven's door. Just hang in there and wait for me because I have plans. I have promises that I want to fulfill for you. And so one last consideration is how God gives us a great incentive to do it.
00:21:26
Speaker
If we ask him something in prayer, is he going to turn around and give us something that is going to bite us in return, going to sting us in return? No. i love I love the Lord's sense of humor. Can't you picture these things and visualize this when he says, 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?
00:21:56
Speaker
And then he says this,
00:22:11
Speaker
wow I believe there there are blessings that are waiting, that are waiting for us in some warehouse up there in heaven. And all of those blessings have the same thing written over the front of the warehouse. You know what it says? In Christ. You know, Ephesians 1, 3, and 4 says, we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. And so I'm thinking, thank you, God, that when Jesus laid down his life for us, that when we said, yes, I trust what he did for me. I put my complete trust and faith in the finished work of Christ, in his atonement for my sins. Then the Lord says, welcome, because you are an heir. You're an heir to the things that belong to Christ.
00:23:02
Speaker
And I'm thinking, how much is that? How incredible is that? I don't know what that is. You know, specifically, all I know is it's good.
Prayerlessness and Spiritual Fortification
00:23:11
Speaker
It's good. I know that God is good. And I know that here he says he's going to give good gifts. I want to close by just so sort of challenging you with two verses that are sort of somewhat related to this idea of constructing a prayer life.
00:23:29
Speaker
Do you know that the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel confronted prayerlessness with a construction metaphor? And here's what he said, you have not gone up into the breaches or built up a wall for the house of Israel that it might stand in battle in the day of the Lord. So in other words, the Lord is saying through the prophet Ezekiel,
00:23:54
Speaker
You know what? If you would have done your job of building the structure of prayer, I would have spared the nation. Here's what he says later in Ezekiel 22.30, and I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall.
00:24:11
Speaker
and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none." Oh my goodness, you know, I hope that God will not find me negligent when it comes to the discipline of intercessory prayer, when it comes to the delight of spending time and hanging out with Him in prayer.
Impact of a Single Prayer
00:24:34
Speaker
And you may, I don't know if it stood out to you, but it stood out to me that when I read Ezekiel 22.30 and he says, and I sought for a man among them who would build up the wall, standing in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. I'm thinking, he's only looking for one. What what difference would it make if one man One woman, one brother in Christ, one sister in Christ, one boy, one girl that's trying to follow Christ with their life. What difference would it make if one person spent time with the Lord in prayer? Let me tell you something. That little that little structure,
00:25:18
Speaker
that you're gonna build in prayer, it can change the world. Here's how I know that. Psalm 106 and verse 23 says, therefore, he said he would destroy them. This is talking about God, what he said he was gonna do to Israel. Therefore, he said he would destroy them had not Moses.
00:25:42
Speaker
His chosen one stood in the breach before him to turn away his wrath from destroying them. One man said, I take prayer seriously and look at what God did.
00:25:57
Speaker
You know, maybe you feel like, I wish somebody would pray for me like that. I just want to remind you, you've got not one person praying for you. You've at least got two people praying for you.
Encouragement for Intercessory Prayer
00:26:08
Speaker
Yes. You know, Romans says that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. Do you know that the Bible speaks in Hebrews about how Jesus Christ is at the right hand of the Father, and he ever lives to intercede for us.
00:26:26
Speaker
So I want you to know that there's always at least two who are praying for you. How about you? Who are you praying for? Why don't you be the one that the Lord is looking for and say, hey, God, I want to build this structure of prayer.
00:26:42
Speaker
and take it more seriously. Let me pray for that. Let's pray for all of us. You pray for me, I'll pray for you. How about we do that together right now? Lord, I thank you so much for these wonderful promises about prayer, but also it helps us know the blueprint and the plan, the building plans for prayer. I believe it's it's foundational. I believe that it's phenomenal. And so God, please, would you take these verses and literally transform our prayer life. Help us to really work together with you like a co-laborer. And together with you, may our prayer lives grow in strength. May they be effective. Lord, there's no limit to what prayer can do. And so there's no limit to how large we can build this structure upon our prayer. It's really and truly only related and limited
00:27:37
Speaker
to our commitment to you. And so help us, oh Lord, help us to really seek you.
The Transformative Potential of Prayer
00:27:43
Speaker
Help us to ask, to knock, to wait, to do whatever we need to do to hang in there and say, I will not stop praying for what God wants to do in my day.
00:27:58
Speaker
Lord, I just wonder sometimes, what is it that still you're waiting on somebody to ask you in order for that that particular movement of your Holy Spirit to happen? May we be the ones that step in the gap and say, I'm gonna ask today. In Jesus' powerful and precious name we pray, amen. Listen, you have a blessed day. Don't underestimate what can happen if you spend time with God in prayer every day. Have a great day.
00:28:43
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church, located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.