Teach us to pray, part 54: those who knock

"So I say to you, 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 he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. (Luke 11:9-10 NASB)

There is an amazing fact about knocking that I need to remember. I am not the only one knocking. Christ Himself is knocking, too. 

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me." (Revelation 3:20) 

Imagine that! Christ longs to visit with me and knocks on the door of my heart while He waits for me to invite Him in. "I will dine with him and he with Me" is just one more example of the relationship for which I was created, for which you were created. 

This verse is generally held to be a verse related to salvation. Certainly, that first opening of the door of our heart when Christ knocks is our salvation moment, but that is not the only time He knocks at the door of our hearts. Our Lord longs to have times of intimacy with us on a daily basis, just as God walked and talked daily with Adam and Eve in the garden. 

Knocking with unbridled enthusiasm as we ask repeatedly that our requests be granted is one of the prayer-actions Christ has granted to us. In our determination to achieve the desire of our heart, however, let us not overlook the quiet, persistent knocking of our Lord Jesus, who longs for us to swing wide the door of our heart so that we might spend time with Him.

You may be thinking, "Why does Christ knock if His Spirit in already residing within me?" Perhaps the metaphor of a house will be helpful. When a guest wants to enter my house, they usually knock on my outside door. Once inside, they have free reign to make themselves at home in the open rooms. 

It is when I go into a room, wishing for a bit of privacy, that I close the door. Before entering that private place, the one in which I have cloistered myself, those who wish to enter usually knock. 

In that same way, I can withdraw from Christ, metaphorically shutting the door of an area of my heart, and stepping away from closeness with Him. I can "hide" by distancing myself from Him. It is in those times that He gently and quietly knocks with the same persistence as at the start, for He longs to share my hurts, my sorrows, my confusion. He longs to turn my isolation into companionship, my sorrow into joy.  

It is all too easy to drown out the sound of His knocking with busyness or the clamor of sin. When I allow myself to be still and silence the clamor, I can hear that gentle knocking. It is then that I face a beautiful decision and a divine opportunity. Will I allow Christ access to more of me or not? 

Only in eternity, when we are made perfect in the presence of God, will we fully abandon ourselves to His presence. Only then will the knocking end, for our communion with Him will be made complete. 

For now, He knocks and we must answer, so let our answer be "more of Christ in me". Let us swing wide the doors of our heart in utter abandon to the One who longs to fill every empty place with the sweetest presence imaginable, heal every hurt, and fill our lives with the love, joy and peace that only He can give. 

He is knocking. What will be our answer? 

Teach us to pray, part 53: Knocking

"So I say to you, 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 he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. (Luke 11:9-10 NASB)

When I read "knock and it will be opened to you", for some reason, it makes me think of that song from my growing up years. "If I had a hammer, I'd hammer in the morning, I'd hammer in the evening, all over this land." The idea of hammering so enthusiastically is exactly the idea behind the knocking of Luke 11. The word translated as knock is not a polite little tapping at the door. This is "knocking with a heavy blow". It is pounding that leaves no doubt, inside or out, that you mean for the door to be opened.

We have it from the very mouth of Christ ("so I say to you") that we are to be so importunate in the things for which Christ has instructed us to ask, that we "must never hold our peace day or night, we must not keep silence, nor give God any rest." (Matthew Henry) We are to be pounding on the doors of heaven. What things has He instructed us to ask? That his name be sanctified, that his kingdom come, His will be done.

When I present my concerns to God in prayer, it behooves me to judge those concerns by the standard Christ has given us. Does my request sanctify His name, does it advance His kingdom, is it His will? I have to admit that I have besieged heaven, hammering on the door night and day to have something that was neither God's will nor likely to advance His kingdom. I thank God He did not grant my request. How miserable I would have been if He had given me that for which I foolishly asked! I praise God for those "no" answers that I desperately needed, but did not want, to the prayers for that which I desperately wanted, but did not need.

It is when I am willing to pray for God's will, and for events in my life to unfold in a way that glorifies Him and not myself, that I begin to pray in a way that pleases God. It is when I pray in this way that my hammering on the door of heaven has an amazing effect. The door of heaven is opened to me and I am ushered into the presence of God. Oh, if there were words to convey the joy that comes with this kind of prayer! 

Prayer, conversation with God, is an important part of having a relationship with Him, and, sometimes, importunate prayer, hammering away without stopping, is what it takes to gain our desire. That continued hammering is important, at least in part, because the persevering demonstrates our commitment to the need for which we ask. 

In the persistent knocking, however, we also gain an unexpected benefit. Change. There are times when I pray persistently over months, and even over years, for something. My prayer toward the end of that journey of persistence is often quite different from the one at the beginning, because God has changed my heart along the way. He has allowed me to see the need from a different perspective, to recognize what He has been doing in me as I waited. The desire I was so desperate to obtain at the beginning has been molded and changed by God in the interim. If we are to obtain the perfect will of God in our asking, this process of molding is critical, and (at least with my stubborn heart) it takes time. 

Let us take our needs, our desires, our hopes and dreams to the One who loves us most, and let us do it with persistence, hammering away at the door of heaven. In our hammering, though, let us not forget that the waiting, as we hammer and pray, is an important part of the process, for it is in the waiting that God fine-tunes us and our prayers to become exactly what He intended. It is only then that our prayers can be the kind of requests that line up with the will of God so that answers, glorious will-of-God answers, can come.

Pray without ceasing and wait with expectation to see the mighty Hand of God in response to your prayers.

Teach us to pray, part 49: Asking

Then He said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; and from inside he answers and says, 'Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything. ' I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs. "So I say to you, 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 he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. (Luke 11:5-10 NASB)

When I read "ask and it will be given to you," I want to believe that God will give me exactly what I have asked Him to give me. When I read this phrase in English, it appears to mean exactly that. 

When I look at it in the original language, however, I find something surprising. The word translated as "ask" is aiteō and indicates a person of lesser position making a request of someone of higher position, someone in authority. Understanding that God is a higher authority than I is not really a problem for me, unless there is something I am determined to have. In that case, it is easy to slide into the "I want what I want and I better get it" attitude. It's a very American mindset to think that we can work hard and get whatever we want, and it sometimes translates into thinking that, if we pray hard enough, we can get God to give us whatever we want. 

The word translated as "will be given" is didōmi. This is the same word used to indicate a seed "giving" fruit. The fruit, of course, looks nothing at all like the seed that was planted. That is often the way of the answers to my prayers. They look nothing at all like I expected (nor like what I thought I wanted!). I have learned to be grateful that God gives us what we need and not what we think we want. 

Some years ago, I was betrayed and deeply wounded by someone very close to me. I stormed heaven non-stop and many of my friends prayed right along with me. I expected the situation to unfold a certain way. I expected that the situation would end up with the kind of glorious results that would point people to Christ and give them hope. (And, of  course, I expected that it would vindicate me and make me look good. Let's not forget there is sometimes a good bit of pride in our prayers.)

Instead, God moved. He answered my prayers. His answer, however, looked nothing at all like I expected. Years later, there is peace between me and the person who betrayed me. We are friends and comfortable in each other's company. The malice and anger are gone. The hurt feelings are gone. The relationship was not repaired; it was remade completely. 

I am still astounded by what God did. As it turns out, His answer was more than I ever expected, and in some ways, it was better than I dreamed. The seed of prayer gave forth fruit, and the fruit looked nothing like the seed. 

Could God have done what I wanted? Of course He could, but He was working with two flawed and sinful people and, if the truth be told, He didn't have as much to work with as I thought at the time. (I am speaking of myself when I say that.) The healing took years, but it came, and one of the reasons it came is persistence in prayer. What began as praying for my enemy became praying for my friend. 

This business of praying in the way Jesus told us is a glorious, wonderful thing, and brings the most exciting life possible. I never know what God will do and I love that! He takes a seed of prayer and brings forth fruit, and I have no way of knowing in advance what that fruit will be. The amazing part of this fruit-bearing is that the fruit is always bigger, more complex, more beautiful, more satisfying, more delicious than the seed. 

Today, then, let us ask for whatever is on our heart, but let us also ask with expectation that God's will be done, and that His will can do more than we ever asked or imagined. Every single time. Let us ask, knowing that the seed will bear fruit. 

κἀγὼ ὑμῖν λέγω αἰτεῖτε καὶ δοθήσεται ὑμῖν ζητεῖτε καὶ εὑρήσετεκρούετε καὶ ἀνοιγήσεται ὑμῖν. (Luke 11:9)

Teach us to pray, part 48: The prayer list

Then He said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; and from inside he answers and says, 'Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything. ' I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs. "So I say to you, 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 he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. (Luke 11:5-10 NASB)

In the previous post, we looked at one of the parables about persistence in prayer. One of the problems I encounter is that so many things prick my heart and move me to prayer. I'm concerned about family members who are not living a godly lifestyle, people I love who are far from Christ, friends who are going through a difficult time, sick people in my church, the direction of politics in my nation, doing the right thing and serving my tiny town well. The problems around the world are a source of concern and prayer for me. Nigeria's issues worry me, the mess in Iraq and Syria, our soldiers around the world, the terrorists (both individually and corporately) and those who are in bondage because of those terrorists. On and on and on.

Perhaps you have this problem, too. It's hard to be persistent about everything! One day last week, I pondered about the absolute impossibility of keeping everything that concerns me before our Lord all the time. I'm like a dog with a bone about many issues, but it's impossible for me to deal with everything. If you have a similar problem, maybe I can help. My system helps me pray persistently for the most pressing needs. It works in three ways.

1) I have prayer partners with whom I pray on a regular basis. Both groups text back and forth about pressing needs, updates on progress, and requests for urgent prayer. It helps us persevere in prayer because the needs are always before us.

2) I use my smartphone alerts to remind me. Not every need gets a special alert. I currently have seven alerts that serve as prayer reminders for a variety of needs. The alerts are scheduled throughout the day. When the alarm sounds, I'm reminded to pray, and I do. Though the prayer may be very brief, it is still persistent. Some of those needs have been on my phone for years. Others have been there for a season and removed once the need had been met and was secure. If a need makes it to the smartphone alert list, it gets persistent prayer for as long as needed. (I just realized today that not one of those alerts is for myself. I don't need an alert to remember my own needs!)

3) I have a paper list that I review several times a week. I've used this for years, too. It's not a fancy journal. It's a handwritten list on a few sheets of paper in the back of my calendar/organizer. Sometimes I use a spiral bound steno pad. I was cleaning out a box of papers and found one of those steno pads from two decades ago. It was shocking to see how God had worked in many of those needs. Twenty years later, I could see that God had answered every prayer. It had just taken time.

One of the reasons prayers aren't answered is that our hearts aren't really in it. We don't care enough to persist in praying for the need. Persistent prayer requires that we make an effort. It requires that we keep on praying when we are tired of the effort and ready to move to something else. Of course God knows from the start how much we care. If the man who needed bread had quit asking after the first time he failed to get bread, would his friend have gotten up and given him bread? Not likely. 

This is, of course, a story of contrasts. God is never too sleepy to answer our prayers. He is never too tired to figuratively "come to the door" when we knock. We serve a God who is concerned about the things that concern us. He is ever listening, ever responding. Sometimes, however, he requires us to persist in prayer before He moves. 

Today, let's consider those things about which we have prayed recently. Which things need persistent prayer? Why not join me in making an organized effort to pray persistently about those things? There is nothing more exciting than looking over a prayer list, crossing off the needs as they are met, and realizing you need a new list because God has already taken care of everything on the old one! 

Teach us to Pray: Part 47: Persistence in prayer

Then He said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; and from inside he answers and says, 'Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything. ' I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs. "So I say to you, 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 he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. (Luke 11:5-10 NASB)

This chapter opened with the disciple's request that Christ teach them to pray, just as John had taught his disciples. After Jesus gave the disciples the model prayer, he continued the lessons on prayer with two interesting examples. The first is an example that concludes with a phrase most people know. "Ask and it will be given to you." It would be easy to assume that this lesson is about getting what you want, but it's not quite a simple as it seems.

In this example, Jesus sets the scene. Imagine this, He tells the disciples. A friend shows up unexpectedly in the middle of the night after a long trip. You have made no preparations because you didn't know the friend was coming, but you want to provide some food. What will you do? Jesus suggested that you might go to another of your friends to get some help. You knock on the door, but it is after midnight and your friend refuses to even open the door. He yells through the door, "I'm already asleep, and so are the kids! Quit this ruckus or you'll wake the baby! I'm not getting up to get you anything!" You are determined to get something to feed your friend, so you keep knocking and shouting through the door. Finally, your friend is so tired of listening to your hammering that he gets up and hands you as much bread as you need, just so he can get some peace and quiet.

Let's look at the request in more detail. 
1) First, the request is not for ourselves. This request is to provide for someone who has unexpectedly asked shelter of us in the middle of the night. 
2) Someone has a need and we want to meet it, but have no way of providing what is needed. (Baking bread requires time for the yeast to rise, and it would take several hours before bread could be ready, even if you started immediately.) 
3) You know someone who has exactly what is required to meet the need.
4) You are willing to be inconvenienced and, potentially, embarrassed to meet the need. (After midnight, waking up a grumpy friend)
5) The request is not extravagant. It's not for caviar and filet mignon. The request is for the most basic of meals - three loaves of bread.
6) One loaf will be enough for the visitor, but three loaves is more than enough. In fact, the one requesting the loaf can share the meal with his guest, giving the guest both provision and companionship.

This example is not about getting something we want, even if we want it desperately. It is not about extravagance. This example is about persistent prayer, especially when it involves the needs of another when we are not able to meet those needs ourselves. 

As I am writing this, I am reminded of a very real need that seems impossible to me. Women who have escaped from their terrorist captors need a safe place to recover and to live, for many of them cannot go back to their homes. The opportunity to care for them was most unexpected for the ones requested to give that care. The amount of money needed is not something that can be instantly provided. The women neither need nor expect an extravagant shelter. A roof, bread, and clean water will be enough. The equivalent of one loaf would be enough, but three loaves would allow more than the basics. This is the kind of need that is similar in nature to the friend arriving in the night. 

Think of this need for a moment. Women, taken from their homes and families, trapped in the nightmare of a terrorist captivity, have finally escaped. They are traumatized, injured, sick. They desperately need help and the love of Jesus. They need us to be the hands and feet of Christ.

Jesus said that, because of the asker's persistence, his friend will give him everything he needs. Ask and it will be given you. You may remember that we prayed for the women who had been captured to be released, and God answered our prayer. Hundreds of them have escaped. (They aren't all free, but the asking has not stopped.) Now, we must ask for provision to be made for the care of these women. If we ask, God will provide. 

One of the reasons for unanswered prayer is that we ask amiss. Asking for the provision to care for the escaped captives, however, is not amiss. The women have a need and the opportunity to care for them has arisen. The need is greater than can be provided, but we know Someone who can provide everything the women need. Instead of using these verses as an opportunity to ask for what we want, let's use these verses as an opportunity to ask God to provide for those in need. 

Today, join me in asking that God will provide everything that is needed for the shelter that is, even now, being prepared for the women who have escaped their captors. If we ask, God will provide, so please help me ask.  (If you want to help, you can go to www.criout.com)

(Those who provide the care for the escaped women, and the women themselves, will face grave danger. Please pray for protection for all involved.)