9-8-2017

Good Morning All,

                    Luke 11:9; “And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

     If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.  That is an adage that we have been taught since we were very young.  It is meant to imply that we should not give up easily.  We should persevere in our struggle and we should get back up if we are knocked down (another old adage).  We, especially in the United States, have been told over and over that, with enough hard work, we can succeed at anything.  Yet many of us do not proceed this way in our prayer life; many use the “one and done” method and it often starts with the “pony prayer”

    Most of us as a child said the “pony prayer.”  You know, “Dear God send me a pony. Amen”.  We prayed it and: no pony.  Now what?  Do you try again or do you walk away certain that this “prayer stuff” is for the birds.  This is one place where our verse can play a part.

    As we look at our verse, the meaning changes a little when we see that the phrasing in the original Greek puts a little different spin on it.  We read, “ask”, “seek”, “knock” and that is as far as we go.  Yet originally, it meant to continue what you are doing so it really says “keep asking”, “keep seeking”, and “keep praying.”  It adds the quality of being persistent in our prayer life.  We are not to give it the old once over but we are to continue to pray and not give up.  We are to be persistent in our prayers but not for the reason that many assume.  Our prayers do not “wear God down” rather our persistent prayers wear us down and God uses our prayers, our earnest heartfelt prayers, to draw us closer to him.  Prayer is about us talking to God; yet God uses true prayer to draw us closer to him and persistent prayer does just that.

   So pray to God and ask for a better life and keep asking, in our prayers we will soon find that, perhaps, what we seek is not that good for us.  Perhaps we will realize where our true happiness and contentment lies.  We keep asking and God answers us.  The answer may be “yes”; it may be “no” or it may be “not now” but we get an answer and it will always be the answer that points to our best interests.  God is always faithful and we can find comfort in that fact.  He wants us to have life and to have it abundantly.  He will always answer our prayers.

   So keep praying and keep listening to what God is saying to you through his Word.  Keep up this “holy conversation” and God will use it to draw you closer to him and to strengthen your faith.  Don’t stop asking God will answer.

Father of all mercy, your mercies are new to us each day and they roll over us like a river.  Strengthen our search Lord.  Move us by your Spirit that we keep asking, keep seeking and keep knocking. Draw us closer to you that we may be strengthened in our faith and trusting you to always answer our prayer.  Bring comfort to those who are in pain or sorrow.  Give them your peace.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret